


vanishing in divergence

by dancingassassin



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blackwatch Era, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, Genji Shimada is a Little Shit, Kidnapping, M/M, Noodle Dragons, Psychological Torture, Torture, Young Genji Shimada, Young Hanzo Shimada
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 06:32:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 59,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14130162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingassassin/pseuds/dancingassassin
Summary: The world as it is known is changing – and not for the better. Events keep occurring without cause; small omnic rebellions, natural disasters, and magical flare ups. This is what brings Jesse McCree, a young Blackwatch agent, to Hanamura, Japan. The job is different than usual – less about cleaning up Overwatch’s mistakes and messes and more about figuring out the causes of these bizarre and dangerous incidents. The job leads him and Blackwatch to the Shimada clan and the young Shimada heirs, Hanzo and Genji. A friendship forms between the three that only strengthens as they fight side by side to discover the cause of the worsening events even while accusations are being thrown at both sides. As conditions worsen, how they perceive their world skews. What can they possibly do when the future of their world is threatened? When everything they hold dear starts to vanish?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Welcome to my big bang fic. This has been nine months of hard work and the main reason my other fics are on hiatus. I was inspired by a particular scene in the film 'Your Name', though this isn't actually a 'Your Name' AU. It's just what sparked the idea. 
> 
> A Big Bang works by pairing up a writer with an artist. The writer writes the story, the artist makes art to go along with the story! I was paired with the lovely [Moonshinedoodles.](https://moonshinedoodles.tumblr.com/) Be sure to check out her art! I'll link the pieces specifically for this fic on the chapter that they correspond to in case of spoilers <3
> 
> And a big thank you to Dee for hosting this event. It was a blast to participate and so well organized. 
> 
> That's it for my notes, enjoy the story!

The flight to Japan had taken far longer than Jesse McCree had wanted it to take. He was used to international travel, but this one had taken the cake. It had been over fourteen hours and the only movie that had been playing was some cutesy thing with tons of pink and talking ponies. He’d watched it just so he didn’t go stir crazy, but if he heard the words ‘friendship’ and ‘magic’ together in the same sentence he was likely to scream. He also didn’t really want to see the color pink for a while; he swore it was burned into his retinas.

It was weird to have flown in on a commercial flight, usually Blackwatch was able to circumvent that sort of thing – but this time they were doing everything by the book. Overwatch was already on thin ice in Japan and Morrison had ordered them to do everything the ‘proper’ way to appease the Japanese government. Especially as the investigation they were conducting might wind up implicating yakuza organizations as the culprit for some of the weird things that were going on. It never hurt to err on the side of politeness. ‘Weird things’ being code for bad things – things that required Overwatch and Blackwatch intervention. Magical flare ups, mini Omnic crises, even natural disasters. Needless to say, work had been busy.

It seemed silly, but Jesse was excited to get a stamp in his passport. While he traveled all over the place with Blackwatch, he usually didn’t get the stamps in his passport because of them traveling covertly. He wasn’t entirely sure that the stamp outweighed the loss of legroom from the private flights. Or the fact that he hadn’t been able to wear his cowboy hat or his belt buckle or his spurs or any of his usual things. He’d been forced into wearing sweatpants, hoodie, and a t-shirt. And while those were far more comfortable for being on a flight, Jesse didn’t exactly feel like himself. At least the hoodie was his favorite Blackwatch one.

“Ugh, why did I let Morrison book us seats at the back of the damn plane?” Gabriel Reyes groused from the seat next to Jesse. “I want off of this thing.”

“Because statistically, if a plane crashes, you have a better chance of surviving if you’re near the back of the plane.” He chirped out his response and grinned at Gabe. Jesse had spent too much time watching shows about plane crashes and natural disasters and the like for his own good.

Gabe stared at him with an unimpressed expression. Jesse knew – from experience – that Gabe was playing up the whole ‘being a hard-ass’ thing. “I really should take away that TV. You start talking nonsense when you watch too much of it, _mijo_.”

Jesse snickered and continued smiling. He knew that Gabe wasn’t going to take away his TV – there was precious little to do when they were back on base save for training and paperwork and other sorts of work. Jesse was only nineteen. He needed something to do otherwise he was likely to start climbing the walls and get destructive like a dog that hadn’t been given his daily walks. So long as he kept doing his work properly and kept the whole ‘being a respectful human being’ thing going, Jesse would be allowed the television in his room.

He was still working on the being respectful and doing his work properly, though. It was something that Jesse had struggled with since being taken in by Blackwatch. He snorted internally – _taken in_. That was an interesting way to phrase what had happened – the more accurate way of phrasing it was Blackwatch coming down on Deadlock with the ferocity of ten thousand suns. In all honesty, it was the best thing that had ever happened to Jesse. But that didn’t mean it had been easy or that his seventeen-year-old punk ass had appreciated being put through the wringer. He had been given the choice of life in prison or joining Gabriel Reyes’ section of Overwatch – Blackwatch. He’d chosen Blackwatch.

Blackwatch hadn’t been easy work. It was a lot of them doing the dirty work that Overwatch wasn’t able to do, or cleaning up after Overwatch’s messes. Still, it was Jesse atoning for everything he had done with Deadlock, so he stuck through it. He found a family there. Gabe was like a father. And Ana Amari, while she worked with Overwatch primarily, was like a mother. Jesse felt like he belonged.

But lately, the work for Blackwatch had been less along the lines of ‘cleaning up Overwatch’s big fuck-ups’ and more along the lines of ‘figure out what the hell is happening in our world.’ There had been more natural disasters in the last six months than there had been in the last three years, more magical flare-ups, and miniature Omnic crises. Omnics who had previously been peaceful – like Shambali monks – had gone berserk against humans. But hours later had no understanding of _why_ they had done that. It was confusing as hell. It was what had led them to Japan in the first place. There had been several instances of ‘weird shit’ – as Jesse was calling it – happening over the last three months.

“Oh thank fuck, we’re finally moving.” Gabe grumbled under his breath as he grabbed up his backpack. “C’mon _vaquerito_ , we’ve got shit to do.”

Jesse slung his backpack onto his shoulders and followed after Gabe. After fourteen hours of being on the plane, Jesse just wanted off. He also just wanted to fall into a bed and sleep for a good sixteen hours straight, preferably after consuming somewhere to the tune of 3000 calories in one sitting. Ana had tried to figure out where his body put all the calories and had jokingly determined that he was powered by a small, well-contained black hole.

“By shit to do you mean get to the hotel, rest, and then start our investigation tomorrow, right?” Jesse drawled as they moved through the narrow path between the rows of seats. “I kinda want to get acquainted with my pillow.”

Gabe barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Here I thought you’d want to get some food before we hunkered down for the night.”

Jesse was about to respond that he wasn’t _that_ food motivated and the he could wait until after they rested to eat – but his stomach chose that exact moment as the time to growl loudly. He felt a bit of heat creep up his cheeks. The airplane had provided meals, but they hadn’t been particularly good – too much rabbit food for Jesse’s liking. And they hadn’t been _enough_. He would argue back and forth that he was still a growing boy and that he needed plenty of food to get his body to function properly. Now that he was able to have three square meals a day plus snacks, he was insistent to keep it that way. Deadlock hadn’t been so good about feeding their members all the time.

“…food sounds pretty good…” Jesse admitted. He fiddled with his hair in an attempt to try and hide the fact that he was a bit embarrassed that his stomach had decided to be rude.

“That’s what I thought.” Gabe was laughing, but there wasn’t any venom or malice there. Just him knowing Jesse better than he knew himself. “I’ve heard Hanamura has a killer ramen shop.”

“What…like those bricks of noodles you can buy for a quarter?” Jesse didn’t want to pay tourist tax on something like that. If he was going to be overseas, he wanted to have food that he couldn’t get back home.

“Don’t say that too loud, the locals might get offended.” Gabe rolled his eyes and motioned for Jesse to follow him. “That isn’t real ramen – that’s like saying Taco Bell is real Mexican food.”

Jesse’s face shifted from amusement to disgust. He’d gotten into fist fights when he was at Deadlock because of people insisting that Taco Bell was authentic Mexican food. He remembered the food that his mom had cooked – _that_ was authentic. Maybe it was mainly because he felt like they were shitting on his mother’s memory, but he’d argued hard about Taco Bell not being _real_ . He’d told Gabe about the fist fights at one point and Gabe had just laughed. And then had made them _tamales_ for dinner.

“Alright alright, I don’t want to offend the locals. Let’s grab our luggage, check in, and get this real ramen.” Jesse grumbled. He supposed he really did need to eat if he was getting so irritated over Gabe even mentioning the whole Taco Bell business.

It didn’t take them long to gather their luggage – two suitcases each. One for clothing and one for supplies and gear. Jesse doubted that they’d be able to find ammunition for his revolver while they were here so he had brought plenty. Or what he hoped was plenty. The hotel they were in was near what the locals were calling the ‘Shimada mansion’ – close enough that Jesse could practically smell the fragrance of the Sakura trees. Well, at least the locals who were willing to talk about said mansion. Most of them seemed content to pretend it wasn’t looming at the top of the mountain, that it wasn’t the center of their city. It weirded Jesse out. He didn’t understand why they were so unwilling to talk about the mansion. And the weirder thing was that the mentions of the mansion usually dealt with the Sakura trees that bloomed year round within the walls of said mansion. Not about the inhabitants, nothing like that. Just the trees. _I’ll figure out why everyone is so nervous about mentioning the mansion…_

Soon enough, Jesse and Gabe were seated at a small ramen shop that was very close to their hotel and, by proxy, the Shimada mansion. There were a few seats at the bar and then another table or two. There were two young men who appeared to be around his age sitting at the bar, one with green hair and one with long black hair, they were both chattering in Japanese and laughing. He and Gabe took seats at the other end of the bar and looked at the menu. Jesse was frustrated to see that it was entirely in Japanese and that he couldn’t read any of it whatsoever. Now Gabe saying that he should learn how to read Japanese made sense and he was irritated with himself that he hadn’t bothered with that bit of advice. Now he was going to have to deal with Gabe’s smug smirk for the remainder of the trip – which didn’t actually have a firm end date. This mission was done when it was done. He could take solace in the fact that the menu had pictures and hope that Gabe took pity on him so he didn’t wind up eating something _really_ weird.

“The food smells really good…” Jesse looked at the pictures and tried to figure out which one he should get. Maybe Gabe would tell him which one was beef and which one had a kick to it. He wanted something spicy. “Gabe, which of these is beef? You know I can’t read any of this, right?”

“Shoulda listened to me and studied that phrasebook I bought you.” Gabe browsed through the menu and hummed to himself. “Not my fault you didn’t think ahead, _vaquerito_.”

“Aw c’mon! We had a lot goin’ on, you couldn’t’ve expected me to get through the whole book!”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been watching so much TV you would have gotten through the whole book.” Gabe snickered as he continued reading through the menu.

There were a few giggles from down the bar and Jesse felt his cheeks getting hot from embarrassment. He wasn’t sure if they were laughing at him or if they were laughing at stories that they were telling each other, but his mind automatically assumed the former. And while Jesse pretended to not have shame and not be easy to embarrass, well, he was nineteen and more sensitive than he let on. If he was around anyone from Blackwatch other than Gabe, Jesse would have put on a façade and pretended everything was dandy.

“Excuse me, but my brother and I overheard that you weren’t able to read the menu…perhaps we can be of assistance?”

Jesse jumped a little at the voice that issued from his left. He could see both young men leaning on the counter and peering over at him – but the one who had spoken was the one with green hair. His face was alight with a smile and mischief. The one with long, dark hair was smirking. Jesse decided that they both looked good with smiles on their faces. _Not the time for those thoughts, McCree…_

“Thanks, I’d really appreciate the help. Sergeant Asshole here sure isn’t gonna help me.” Jesse reached to tip his hat and realized that he hadn’t put it on when they left the hotel room. He felt the heat on his cheeks spreading to his ears – he almost felt naked without his hat. “My name’s Jesse, do I get to know the names of my saviors?”

There was a moment of hesitation – a clear one. Jesse would have noticed it even without his Blackwatch training and years of running with Deadlock. He was about to say that they didn’t have to say anything if they didn’t want to when the green haired one spoke up again.

“You can call me Sparrow. My brother goes by Archer.”

 _Those are the fakest fake names I’ve ever run into and I ran with Deadlock for years._ “Well, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Sparrow, Archer.” Jesse smiled at the two of them and let his chin rest against his hand. He wondered why they were giving fake names, though. He supposed it could be two teenage brothers goofing around, but the hesitation had been telling. Maybe he was reading too much into things. Sometimes he did that . “Do you mind helpin’ me find which one is spicy beef?”

Sparrow smiled and nodded before dragging Archer over a few seats. Jesse was honestly surprised that Gabe was keeping quiet during all of this. Maybe he was just letting him be a teenager. _Or waiting for the right moment to swoop in and throw a tactical embarrassment bomb._

Jesse wasn’t sure which one was actually more likely at this point, it was honestly difficult to say. He made a mental note to be prepared for a potential embarrassment bomb, but otherwise brought his attention back to the two guys he was speaking with.

“I suppose we can, but what’s in it for us?” Sparrow waggled his eyebrows and seemed to barely be concealing a laugh.

“The satisfaction of helpin’ someone and uh…I’ll buy you a soda? Or something?” Jesse should have expected there to be strings attached to his help. He could hear Gabe biting back a snorting laugh by coughing. _Glad someone’s amused…_

“I think that’s amenable.” Archer finally spoke and it was velvet and low and just a little rough – it brought a bit of heat to Jesse’s cheeks. But what really got him was the subtle shift to a sly grin. “Don’t you agree, Sparrow?”

 _Jesus, McCree, get it under control! Don’t get all flustered by a goddamn_ **_voice._ **

“I don’t know, anija…that’s not much…” Sparrow hummed and shook his head. It was clear he was trying to hold back his laughter and keep some sort of poker face on. He was failing pretty hard. “Okay, okay, we’ll help you Jesse. But only because Archer already agreed to your terms. Spicy beef, right?”

Jesse nodded and tried to focus on the menu instead of the sassy smiles on Archer and Sparrow’s faces. They were both too damn pretty and he didn’t want them to see that he was blushing and getting a bit flustered. “Yeah, spicy beef or something similar.”

The brothers pointed out several things on the menu, which Jesse was grateful for. All the options sounded very good and he was tempted to get more than one bowl, but didn’t want to be seen as a glutton. _Though Ana says I’m still growing…maybe I can get away with chowing down on multiple bowls?_

He was just glad to have people his age to talk to for once. Blackwatch was great, but Jesse was definitely the youngest person on the team and sometimes it just sucked. It felt like no one except Gabe respected him despite the fact that he’d been there for two years. Deadlock hadn’t been much better, but Jesse had managed to earn the respect of the others because of his sheer skill.

Conversation flowed relatively naturally between the four, though Gabe only chimed in here and there. He seemed content to allow Jesse to be a teenager for once. Jesse was grateful for that.

“So what brings you two to Hanamura?” Archer slid his fourth empty bowl to the side and sipped at the drink Jesse had purchased. Jesse had to wonder where all that food was going – Archer looked to be all lean muscle – and he was honestly a little impressed with how much he’d eaten.

“Oh, work.” Jesse shrugged a little and finished off another bowl of ramen. “Gabe and I are here for work.”

Silence fell between the four of them and Jesse almost thought that he’d said the wrong thing. Somehow. But the two looked surprised more than anything.

“You don’t look old enough to have a job that requires international travel.” Sparrow laughed. “You can’t be much older than me or Archer.”

“Yeah, I reckon I’m not much older. Gabe and I work security.” Jesse said the words naturally and without hesitation. It was a general cover story for Blackwatch agents. It wasn’t even a lie in most cases.

Archer looked like he was about to respond, but an electronic percussive sound rang out – it sounded like it belonged in a video game. The smile on his face vanished and Jesse missed it immediately, especially when it was replaced by a scowl. Jesse watched as he tugged out his cellphone and sighed heavily. “Ah…I am sorry. I must cut our conversation short. Sparrow and I have some business to attend to.”

The air palpably shifted toward something uncomfortable and stifling. Jesse shifted and fidgeted, but kept his eyes on both brothers. Sparrow looked sulky and sullen at the idea of having to leave, Archer just looked irritated. _And here they were getting on me about having a job at this age. That doesn’t seem like a family call…_

“Well, it was nice meetin’ and talkin’ with you two.” Jesse smiled genuinely. “Take care.” He would have tipped his hat if he was wearing it.

And with that, the brothers swept out of the ramen shop. Jesse sighed and turned to face Gabe – he had a knowing smirk on his face and he felt his cheeks got hot at the sight of it. But Gabe didn’t tease him at this point – no – they just paid their tab and headed back to the hotel. They had traveled a long way…they both needed rest.

Work would start after they got a good night’s sleep.

 

* * *

  


Hanamura wasn’t a huge town, at least that’s how it felt to Jesse. It hadn’t taken him and Gabe very long to explore the city and get their bearings. Jesse had a vague idea on how to get around now – one of the good things that Deadlock had given him was a superb sense of direction. It was helpful when you were going around on missions in places you weren’t very familiar with.

There hadn’t been any signs of whatever weird stuff had been documented. But Jesse hadn’t really expected there to be any huge glaring signs – if there were, Blackwatch wouldn’t have been called into figure stuff out.

What they had been able to figure out was that the Shimada mansion the entire town seemed reluctant to talk about was the home of the main branch of the Shimada-gumi. Jesse supposed that explained why people were reluctant to talk about the place – they were afraid of the yakuza coming down on them for potentially saying something they weren’t supposed to. So they opted to not say anything at all. He guessed it made sense in a way.

The issue was that it didn’t really give him any options on what to do. Gabe was in the process of setting up a meeting with the Shimada clan, but it was going to take time – which left Jesse with no choice but to continue wandering through the streets of Hanamura. It wasn’t that he minded having down time, but it felt like overkill to send both him and Gabe on a mission like this. He knew that the situation was actually dire, but at this point it didn’t _feel_ that way.

Especially since Jesse had freetime. He wasn’t used to having free time like this on missions.

He trailed his fingers along the fence as he walked and sighed. Jesse wasn’t entirely sure what he should do with this freetime. So he continued to wander. A small flash of blue caught his attention and Jesse paused and peered up to see what it was. But a second glance didn’t reveal anything. _Maybe I’m seeing things…?_ Jesse shook his head and continued walking.

But there was that flash of blue again. And a green one.

The flashes were so fast that he almost thought they were just lights. But Jesse couldn’t see anything that would be the source for the lights. And they kept darting around. There wasn’t any discernible reason for light to be acting that way. Thus...it had to be something else.

And really...Jesse had been forced to accept that there were supernatural things in his world. That science couldn’t explain everything.

He was genuinely tempted to climb up into the tree so he could see things better, but Jesse knew if Gabe found out that he’d never stop laughing. Especially if Jesse _fell_ out of the tree. Even if Jesse didn’t tell Gabe about the fall, he knew that Gabe would somehow know. He always knew. Jesse sometimes wondered if Gabe was actually clairvoyant, though he knew better. Gabe was just Gabe.

Jesse watched the little flashes of light for a few more moments before curiosity overtook him. _To hell with it…_

He grabbed onto one of the lower branches and hefted his weight up with ease. He’d always been a fairly good climber, but the muscle he’d put on since joining up with Blackwatch certainly made climbing _much_ easier. He could heft himself up so much easier. And he had better balance. _which is good because there’s less chance of falling and less chance of Gabe laughing at me forever._

Jesse shifted from branch to branch, slowly getting closer and closer to the mysterious lights. They almost looked like little lizards, or something like that. Like the ones that had sunned themselves on the rocks back home in New Mexico. But longer. And a bit more noodly. They were chittering back and forth at each other, Jesse had to admit that it was an _adorable_ sound. He stayed as still as possible - he didn’t want to startle them. He didn’t want them to run away or anything like that. He just wanted to get a little closer. A little...closer…

One of the little lizard things let out a startled trill, both straightened up, almost like they were going on alert, a moment later.

_Oops. Seems I’ve been spotted._

Jesse stayed still - maybe they’d stay put if he didn’t move. He was hoping. He wanted to know what they were! But the little lizard-y things decided they were done with Jesse and darted off the branch and...flew? _What in the everloving name of anything am I seeing?_

Jesse knew he shouldn’t follow them. He’d gotten fairly close and that was good enough. He kept telling himself that.

He kept telling himself that as he launched off the of the branch and started chasing after the two little flying lizard things. The little lizards cheeped back and forth at each other - seemingly aware that they were being chased. It was almost like they were talking. It was utterly adorable.

Jesse tore after them, jumping over various objects and climbing over fences to keep up with them. They were fast little devils and it was honestly difficult for Jesse to keep them in his line of sight. It almost seemed like they were tormenting him.

Maybe he was projecting his frustration a little too hard there.

Jesse hopped another fence, grabbed a tree branch so he could swing, and tried to keep his momentum going. He watched a little blue tail and a little green tail slither away between some plants and Jesse dove after him. He knew it wasn’t his smartest move, but maybe he was getting a tiny bit frustrated with the little beasties and how evasive they were. He braced himself for impact, but it didn’t immediately come. He yelped as it felt like his entire body was slapped with something _hard_ , which was immediately followed by _cold_. Jesse gasped as cold water swallowed him and he instinctively flailed to get his head above it.

His knees thumped down into something soft and silt-like and Jesse realized that he wasn’t in any danger. Well, any danger to his life. There was plenty of danger of his poor ego being destroyed. He knelt in the water and brushed some leaves or dirt away from his forehead.

Above him were the two little lizard-like creatures, the two sitting on a branch with their tails swaying back and forth. Jesse could see them far more clearly now, if he didn’t know better, he’d say they looked like all the art he’d seen of Eastern dragons. Right down to the little antler-like horns and soft manes running from their head, down their spine, to the tip of their tail. But what was sticking out to him the most in that moment was the sound they were making.

It almost sounded like hissing, or snorting, or some weird combination of the two. But what popped into Jesse’s mind was _laughter_. The two totally-not-dragons were laughing at him.

_Wonderful._

Jesse slowly stood up, the soft, squishy silt nearly making him fall straight back onto his ass. He kept his balance - somehow - and grumbled as he waded out of the pond. The laughter from the little lizards echoed after him.

“Yeah yeah, I get it. Weird foreigner falls into pond.” Jesse rolled his eyes as he tugged his hat off and tipped the extra water out of it. _God, Gabe is going to give me so much hell…_

Once he was out of the pond, Jesse started formulating his cover story to explain why he was dripping wet and smelling like rank pond water. He doubted that Gabe would believe any story that Jesse managed to spin, but he was going to try anyway. After all, he didn’t want to admit that he’d gone chasing after the two little lizards at age nineteen.

* * *

 

As Jesse had predicted, Gabe hadn’t believed any of the stories that he’d told about why he came back dripping wet and stinking of pond. But he hadn’t pried into the actual story, thankfully. He’d just laughed and laughed until he decided to treat Jesse to dinner. Which was sushi.

Jesse still wasn’t sure he trusted raw fish, even after having sushi that was fairly tasty.

But he knew he shouldn’t be thinking about sushi right now. Jesse needed to be focused on their mission and etiquette and all sorts of things like that. They were going to formally meet the Shimada family today, which Gabe had emphasized - _repeatedly_ \- as being very important. That the whole mission was potentially riding on this meeting.

Jesse didn’t think telling him that so many times was really the best approach to getting him to ‘behave.’ It just made him nervous about fucking up. _I know Gabe thinks if I’m nervous I’ll be more cautious, but right now I think I’m nervous enough to wind up doing something stupid._

Still, he was dressed in the nicest clothes he’d brought with him for the trip. Jesse kept fidgeting with how they were sitting on his body - he was certain he looked ridiculous due to the fact that he’d grown several inches taller since they’d purchased the clothes and his chest size was much bigger. He felt like a sausage trying to burst from its casing.

“C’mon _vaquero_ , let’s get this show on the road.” Gabe patted Jesse’s shoulder and motioned for him to follow. He paused and looked down at what Jesse was wearing with an eyebrow quirked up. “...we’ve really gotta get you some new ‘nice’ clothes. You’ve grown a lot since you joined up with Blackwatch. Didn’t expect you to sprout up _that_ much…”

The two started out of the cheap motel they’d set up base in, with Gabe muttering in Spanish about clothing and Jesse’s huge growth spurt after being introduced to proper nutrition. Jesse couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath as they walked. He remembered Ana warning Gabe that Jesse was likely to grow _a lot_ once they had him eating on the regular and got him to a healthy state, but Gabe had somehow ignored Ana’s advice. Ana had laughed until she cried once Jesse was the same height as Gabe.

It didn’t take too long for them to come to the gates of Shimada manor. Like each time that Jesse had come up to the gates in the previous days, he felt an almost overwhelming urge to _run._ He wouldn’t, but the urge was there.

This time, a guard in a suit that probably cost more than every single item Jesse had purchased in his lifetime came up to the gate. “Business?”

“We’re the representatives from Blackwatch here to meet with the Shimada family.” Gabe spoke in the smooth, authoritative tone that Jesse noticed he used when he was dealing with military types.

The guard pulled out a small tablet, tapped a few times, and then nodded. “Understood.” He moved to the side and the gate started creaking open.

Somehow Jesse had expected it to be a lot harder to actually get into the Shimada manor.

The guard guided them through the beautiful courtyard and remained silent the entire time. Jesse’s eyes wandered through the scenery, though they lingered on the Sakura blossoms and the well-maintained architecture. It really was pretty, even if it wasn’t his usual style. He felt fairly lucky to be allowed to see the interior, it didn’t seem like something that happened very often. They were led into a side building and instructed to wait.

Despite his earlier nerves, Jesse felt relatively at ease. Maybe it was the beauty of the area, maybe it was him riding the high from adrenaline, likely it was a little bit of both. Jesse sank down into one of the chairs at the table and lounged. The tightness of his clothes made the position difficult, but he had his rough and tumble cowboy persona to keep intact.

“Let me do most of the talking, Jess.” Gabe sat down next to him and started spreading out the information they needed to share. “I want you watching for any tells, shit like that. Got it?”

“Roger that, boss.” Despite how young and inexperienced Jesse looked, he knew when to get his head in the game. Now was one of those moments. Yet he still kept the relaxed posture, even as he glanced over the information. It was all stuff he knew already, but it was interesting to see how the reports phrased everything.

The sound of footsteps made Jesse straighten up and a quick glance in Gabe’s direction told him he needed to get no his feet. Jesse even took his hat off in a show of respect. He was certain his hair was all over the place, but he couldn’t win all the time. He’d just have to meet the Shimada family while he had hat hair.

He stood tall as they entered the room, his eyes drifting from one face to the next. The first who entered was likely Sojiro Shimada. A man whose presence filled the room despite being a bit on the shorter side - to the point that Jesse felt _small_. He was built like a brickhouse and his long, dark hair had streaks of grey running through it. But what caught Jesse’s eye the most was the spiraling tattoo in shades of silvery grey that started on his neck and disappeared under the right side of his clothing. It took a second for Jesse to realize it, but it was a dragon. Behind Sojiro were two younger men, one with long hair, the other with short green hair. They looked like they were right around Jesse’s age. If Blackwatch’s intel was right, these two were Hanzo and Genji Shimada - Sojiro’s sons. He couldn’t really see their faces yet, but he could see bits and pieces of similar tattoos, but in shades of blue and green. There was a moment where he swore he could see light dancing out of their tattoos, but Jesse shook that thought away.

The energy in the room was charged and almost seemed electric. Jesse shivered and shook the feeling away. _Not the time to be focusing on things like that, McCree._ He needed his wits about him. Still...even with reminding himself that he needed to be all there, he couldn’t help but think he’d never felt an energy like this before. It was intimidating.

“Thank you for graciously allowing us into your home, Shimada-san.” Gabe was still using that smooth diction. “My name is Gabriel Reyes, and this is one of my subordinates, Jesse McCree.”

“It is our honor. I am Shimada Sojiro, and these are my sons Hanzo and Genji.” Sojiro motioned to his sons as they came into full view.

Jesse choked on air.

The two guys from the ramen shop.

Those were the two guys from the ramen shop.

He and Gabe had ramen with the heirs to the Shimada clan. They had been _joking_ with him. _This is a fucking dream. Or a nightmare. Or a hallucination. Did someone slip me LSD or some bullshit?_

Jesse’s body was operating on autopilot at this point. He sat down when he was supposed to sit down, he watched like he was supposed to do, though his eyes were primarily on Hanzo and Genji. He was taking solace in the fact that both of them were looking a little red in the face, though Hanzo still had a haughty expression painted on his features. _Not sure how he can keep that expression going…_

From what Jesse could tell - which honestly wasn’t a lot - the conversation was going fairly well. That was good. Contact was established and the Shimada were willing to help Blackwatch figure out what was going on. All good things.

All of this went straight over Jesse’s head because he was too busy staring at Hanzo Shimada and his stupid haughty face.


	2. Chapter 2

Of all the things Hanzo had to do that day, he was least looking forward to the meeting with some foreign group. He hadn’t been given a great amount of information on who they were and what they wanted - all his father had told him was that they were going to be discussing the recent incidents that had been taking place all over the world. There had been a cluster of them in Japan, so the Shimada had a vested interest in the discussion.

But to Hanzo, it felt like this was going to be more of an accusation than anything else.

Those were the type of thoughts that had father telling him he was too pessimistic. Hanzo figured it was more _realistic._ He also didn’t like getting his hopes up. Part of that was that was how Hanzo reacted to being let down - it often felt like something was wringing his heart out. It _hurt_. It wasn’t a trait that was good for someone who was supposed to take over the clan. There were going to be many opportunities for people to let him down and disappoint him...it would do no good if he was hurt by each of those failures. So it was something he hid from others and was learning to control.

“Anija, it’s not like you to be late~” Genji sang from the window.

Hanzo glanced in the direction and found his brother sitting on the windowsill with a silly grin on his face. He didn’t bother to ask how Genji had gotten there, he knew exactly how. He had climbed the wall. Or something like that. Maybe Hanzo didn’t know _exactly_ know how Genji got up there. “I am not late.”

“This is late for you. You’re not early.” Genji hopped down from the sill and strutted through the room like it was his. “You’re _always_ early.”

“That is obviously false.” Hanzo rolled his eyes and finished getting dressed. Perfect. Just what his father and the elders wanted to see - the polished and refined young master of the Shimada clan. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders before turning to face his brother. “...what do you think of this meeting?”

“Don’t really care.” Genji shrugged and hummed. “I’m sure it’s just them trying to get us on board with helping them. Common interests and all.”

As much as their father and the elders had written off Genji as ‘wild’, ‘uncontrollable’, and ‘uncaring’, Hanzo knew that Genji was a useful resource. He mostly had the same training that Hanzo had and it was useful to have another set of eyes. And Genji’s eyes saw different things than Hanzo’s did. Hanzo knew better than to force his brother into clan activities...but he knew that Genji would provide insight when he needed it.

“I guess that makes sense.” Hanzo still thought this could result in accusations being thrown at the Shimada.

“...Hanzo...you need to accept that not every situation is an attack.”

That was another thing that Hanzo was working on. It was more difficult than he wanted to admit.

“Let’s go. Might as well get this over with.”

For a moment, it looked like Genji was going to say something more, but he sighed, shook his head, and murmured his agreement. Hanzo started toward the room that the meeting was supposed to take place in. The closer they got, the straighter he stood, like a ramrod was running through his spine. The closer they got, the more Hanzo shed his actual personality and the more he put on the persona that the elders preferred him to wear. The closer they got, the more Hanzo was reminded that the elders didn’t actually like who he really was, they only liked the person that they wanted him to be.

It wasn’t a reminder that he enjoyed receiving.

If anything, Hanzo wanted to be valued for who he actually was, not who the elders wanted him to be. But it wasn’t something that was afforded to him.

Soon enough, they were at the meeting room and Hanzo was already one hundred percent done with this damn meeting. There were more important things he could be doing - not that he could actually think of anything else at this moment in time. But his point stood. There was plenty that he could be doing that was far more important.

He and Genji followed their father into the room, the formality was stifling, but not unfamiliar in the least. If anything, there was a huge amount of familiarity in this. This was how their life was every single day. Or at least that’s how the elders wanted life for Hanzo to be.

His eyes drifted over to the people they were meeting with and his chest tightened. Dramatically. Because Hanzo had seen those men before. He glanced over at Genji, who was grinning so hard that it looked like his face might split in half. _I would never have messed with them if I had realized they were the damn representatives from Blackwatch!_

Hanzo didn’t let his shock and surprise show on his face. No, he didn’t want his father knowing that he and Genji had been skipping out on their duties to go and have ramen.

Again.

It was hard, though. Especially when Jesse - which actually _was_ his name - was staring at him like he’d grown several heads and had snakes slithering out of his eyes. Hanzo supposed he couldn’t blame him. After all, he and Genji had given him different names (which were so obviously fake that it wasn’t even funny) and were now standing before him as the heirs to the Shimada clan. If Hanzo hadn’t gotten so used to shenanigans like that because of Genji, _he_ would be wearing a similar expression.

But now was not the time to be reminiscing about the ridiculous things that he and Genji had pulled when they were a little younger. Now was the time to be the heir that the elders wanted him to be. That meant he needed to actually focus.

“Thank you for graciously allowing us into your home, Shimada-san.” The man who was very obviously in charge was using a smooth, calm diction. “My name is Gabriel Reyes, and this is one of my subordinates, Jesse McCree.”

“It is our honor. I am Shimada Sojiro, and these are my sons Hanzo and Genji.”

Hanzo bowed slightly as a sign of respect, but couldn’t meet Jesse’s eyes. Or Gabe’s for that matter. He was hoping that he wouldn’t have to say anything during this meeting because he wasn’t entirely sure he _could_ say something. Well, he wasn’t entirely sure that he’d be able to say something without sounding like an idiot. _Perhaps if I hid under a rock, I wouldn’t make such a fool of myself…_

Not that anyone could really _tell_ that’d he’d made a fool of himself.

But Hanzo knew. And so did Genji.

And that was almost worse. Because Genji was elbowing him in as subtle a way as possible, which wasn’t subtle in the least. Hanzo was trying to ignore his brother’s pointy, jabbing elbow. It was a very difficult task. Genji’s elbows were sharp and he had a knack for getting his jabs right under Hanzo’s ribcage. In the worst way possible.

“Hanzo, you would be willing to work with McCree-san and Reyes-san, yes?” His father gave him a severe look. A silent chastisement for not paying complete attention.

The words were like a sharp knife, sliding in before he could scarcely tell something was wrong. His face burned and Hanzo swallowed dryly before attempting to say any words at all. “Yes, I am willing to work with McCree-san and Reyes-san.”

He assumed that they merely wanted his cooperation while they did their investigation. It was beneficial to the Shimada clan as a whole if Hanzo went along with what they wanted. It looked better that way. Even if they hadn’t done anything wrong, which they hadn’t, they wanted to leave a good impression.

“Good. We’re glad to have your cooperation, Shimada-san. We didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes.” Gabriel’s tone was still even and polite, but there was a smile present on his face now. Hanzo noted that it made him look softer, far less intimidating. “Ideally, I’d like Hanzo-san, Genji-san, and Jesse getting to know each other a bit better before diving into missions together, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m sure it’ll go just fine.” Another pause, a slight smile. “I know this is probably a point of contention, but I want Jesse running point on the missions. Your boys are skilled, but Jesse’s got the tactical background from Blackwatch.”

Oh.

They were going to be doing missions together. Missions that _Jesse_ was going to be running rather than Hanzo.

Well.

Hanzo supposed that he could deal with that. If Jesse was a Blackwatch agent, that meant he was more than capable. Though he was a _supervised_ Blackwatch agent, so maybe that meant he was less than capable?

He couldn’t really decide.

“We are happy to give our assistance to an honorable association such as Blackwatch.” His father sounded so stiff and formal, but still managed to sound appreciative at the same time. “I am sure that they will be able to work together despite the lack of time to get to know one another.”

Hanzo bowed his head slightly. It was best to play along. He could take orders from Jesse McCree if it meant the Shimada wouldn’t be under scrutiny. “It will not be a problem, father.”

He genuinely believed that. He hoped that it was true in practice.

The meeting ended with numbers being exchanged and various niceties being said again and again. Even with everything ending on a bright note, Hanzo had a bad taste lingering in the back of his mouth and he couldn’t figure out why. He just hoped that his instincts were wrong for once.

* * *

  


Hanzo woke to his phone vibrating his pillow at far too early in the morning. It was one of his most closely guarded secrets: Hanzo _hated_ mornings. There was not a single part of him that was a morning person. Being woken up early tended to ruin days before they really even started and he was certain that was going to be the case today as well.

He glanced at his phone and saw that it was a group message from a number he didn’t recognize yet. Gabriel or Jesse then. Hanzo unlocked his phone and checked the message - if it was being sent this early, it had to be important. Though...it really only was early to Hanzo. At this point, most of the world was already up and moving.

**[from: Gabriel Reyes, sent 8:21am]** alright. our scanners tell us that there’s been a magical flare-up in the downtown area of Hanamura. I want Jesse, Hanzo, and Genji on the scene checking things out. I will be watching the monitors and waiting for reports back from the States. I want you out and working by 9:00, preferably before that.

There was an underlying message there, one that Hanzo read as ‘don’t fuck up.’ He knew there were people relying on them; Overwatch for one, as well as the people of Hanamura. The sooner they were able to figure out the cause of the magical flare-ups and everything else, the sooner things could start getting back to normal. _If_ they could get back to normal. _I shouldn’t be thinking like that...that’s an unhealthy amount of pessimism._

Hanzo shook away the thoughts and dragged himself out of bed and started to get dressed and ready. There was no reason to delay the inevitable. He needed to be up and moving. Staying in bed would not only let down their newfound allies, but the people of Hanamura as well. Hanzo couldn’t let that happen.

As he tugged on sturdy clothing for field work, he realized that Gabriel had left a few things out.

Like how he, Genji, and Jesse were going to be meeting up, as well as the exact coordinates of the incident.

_Wonderful_.

**[from: Jesse McCree, sent 8:27am]** looks like we’re on the clock, guys. let’s meet up in your courtyard. we can discuss tactics on the walk into downtown. sound good?

That sounded reasonable enough to Hanzo. He was honestly impressed by the quick and succinct response from Jesse - it showed real professionalism and experience. Maybe working with him wouldn’t be so bad. He started tapping in a reply, but another message popped up before he could finish his response.

**[from: Sparrow, sent 8:28am]** sounds good to me. I’ll go dragHanzo out of bed by his ankles and meet you down in the courtyard.

Hanzo gripped his cellphone entirely too tightly and clenched his teeth tightly. _Urge to throttle younger brother rising..._

**[from: Jesse McCree, sent 8:29am]** lol

Lovely.

Now Jesse was laughing at him.

Hanzo finished getting dressed and stalked down to the courtyard, he was determined to get down there well before Genji did. It was a point of honor now. There was a chill hanging in the air that had Hanzo clutching onto his upper arms to keep a little bit of warmth in his body. More reasons to stay asleep in the morning - it was cold in the morning.

Surprisingly, he was the first one down in the courtyard.

A few minutes later, Jesse sauntered in. There were small puffs of air leaving his mouth due to the coldness, but he was smiling. He was dressed differently now, black coveralls with a chestplate and a heavy cowl hanging over his shoulders. There was still a cowboy hat present, but it was more subdued than his other one. Hanzo was amused more than anything that Jesse managed to work _cowboy_ into tactical gear - that had to take a good amount of effort.

“Oh, hey Hanzo-san, didn’t expect you to be down here before your brother.” Jesse rubbed the back of his neck and flashed a sheepish grin. “Guess Genji is the slowpoke in the morning?”

Hanzo wanted to say that Jesse was correct in that assumption, but he didn’t want to lie to their new ally. “No...I am not a morning person by any stretch of the word. I would assume that my brother wanted to do something ridiculous to get me out of bed and is now sulking because I was already out.”

Stunned silence fell between the two of them followed by a strangled little laugh leaving Jesse. _Was that too candid then…? I appear to have stunned him…_ Hanzo didn’t get to dwell on his thoughts too long, soon enough Genji was sauntering up with a scowl on his face. If he had to guess, Genji heard what Hanzo said and was upset because it was the truth.

“Morning Jesse, anija. Shall we get to work then?” Genji faux-glared at Hanzo and crossed his arms over his chest.

With that, the trio started off toward downtown Hanamura. Once they were out of the gated Shimada courtyard, Hanzo could feel the small hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Something just felt... _wrong_. Even though nothing was really happening, Hanzo was having trouble getting a deep breath, and it almost felt like he was being ripped in half. The closer they got to downtown, the more that feeling intensified.

It was distracting.

Hanzo found himself wishing that the Shimada clan wasn’t deeply rooted in magic, that he didn’t have magical abilities; if only so he could _focus_ on the task at hand.

“You two okay? You’re both lookin’ kinda pale.” Jesse’s voice was soft and kind, all warmth and concern.

Hanzo was about to say that he was fine, but Genji opened his mouth first.

“No, not really. Feels like I’m being pulled apart. I think we’re close.”

Jesse looked like he wanted to say something, but ultimately decided that it was more important to keep pressing forward. That was good, Hanzo didn’t really feel like elaborating on how he felt and he doubted that Genji really wanted to either.

As they arrived in downtown, the issues made themselves apparent. A quick glance around the area told Hanzo that the devices that ran on a combination of magic and technology were going haywire because _magic_ was going wrong. At least that’s what Hanzo thought, given that he and Genji felt like death warmed over.

“...damn…” Jesse’s brows knitted together as he looked around. “Damn. Okay...um...let’s take a look at everything that’s gone bonkers. See if there’s anything we can do or if anyone’s been hurt.”

It was a fair plan of action, so Hanzo went along with it. There were a few injured from a device that wound up blowing up. Several lights that were powered with a combination of technology and magic had blown up, a music player at a yoga studio was emitting strange orange sparks and playing screamo music instead of the zen music that it usually played, an air conditioner was blowing out cold enough air that there was frost building up on the side of the machine. It was a mess. Hanzo carefully treated the people who had been injured and spoke in a gentle, caring tone. He wanted to reassure them.

“Uh...either of you know how to fix this music player…?” Jesse jabbed his finger at the machine only to withdraw his hand quickly as more orange sparks flew from it. “I’ve no idea where to even start…”

Hanzo watched his younger brother waltz over and unplug, only for the music to get _louder_ and the sparks to come more frequently. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “If it’s running without electricity...does that mean there’s too much magic?”

Genji looked back at him with a curious expression. “That could be…? That might explain the explosions…”

_Because they were overloaded with magic…_ Hanzo supposed that made sense. He bit his lower lip and thought of ways to troubleshoot everything. “...well...unplug all the devices that we can, then. And try using them until the excess magic is expended…? Keep changing the channel and playing with the volume, I guess.”

Jesse looked between the two and shrugged. “This all goes over my head, but it kinda makes sense? Might as well give it a shot, so long as it doesn’t wind up hurtin’ anyone.”

“Agreed. If this causes any injuries, we stop.” Hanzo settled in close to the music player and ignored any and all sparks that fell onto his skin. Genji was working on the air conditioner with single-minded focus, with only the occasional complaint about how cold it was. When fiddling with the settings didn’t set off an explosion, Hanzo kept working with the music player. “...we should be glad there weren’t any omnics nearby during this…”

Jesse bristled a little at that comment, his face closed off and expression dark. Hanzo could only assume that the other man was jumping to conclusions. “Whaddya mean?”

“Omnics run on magic and technology. If an omnic had been nearby when this happened…” Hanzo shook his head a little. “It could get bad. Think of these non-sentient machines going haywire, now imagine one with sentience.”

Hanzo glanced over his shoulder and saw that Jesse was looking far more relaxed now that Hanzo had explained himself.

“Oh. Yeah...that woulda been bad…” Jesse hummed and shifted a little closer. “You’re pretty smart, ain’tcha...figuring all that out…”

Hanzo felt a light flush on his cheeks and ignored it. Praise wasn’t something new. _Praise does not always come from an attractive source, though..._ “It was nothing…”

“Well, I wouldn’t have figured it out anyway. So...nicely done.” He paused for a minute and chuckled. “So...think you can get that thing playin’ some country music?”

Hanzo looked over his shoulder and made a face. “Absolutely not!”

“...aw c’mon!”

* * *

  


Hanzo wasn’t afforded much free time, he never had been. It had been a point of contention between his mother and the elders - she had argued in favor of Hanzo and Genji getting more time for themselves. More time to be children. More time for things that were not duties to the clan. The elders had loosened their grip on Genji...but not so much on Hanzo. If anything, they’d tightened their grip on him.

It’s what let to Hanzo taking solace in his dragon form.

He would transform and fly off to somewhere that people couldn’t bother him. Sure, he knew that the elders were looking for him. Sure, he knew that he shouldn’t hide from his responsibilities.

But Hanzo needed breaks just like any other person. Apparently the only way he could really get breaks was by sneaking around as a dragon.

Once he, Genji, and Jesse finished up dealing with the magical flare-up and went their separate ways, Hanzo had shifted and flown off to hide out for a little bit. It almost felt a little different this time around. The magical flare-up had left him feeling weird and out of sorts, even after it was mainly cleared up. It left him feeling like he _had_ to shift.

He didn’t like it.

Hanzo didn’t want to be compelled to shift, he wanted to be a dragon because it felt right and natural. Still, even if he felt like he _had_ to shift, he was going to enjoy his time away from his responsibilities.

He hopped from a branch near the center of the tree he was perched in to one that was in the sunlight. The sun felt delightful against his scales. And it just seemed perfect to sit and laze and bask in the light. A perfect way to unwind from everything that had been going on.

“You!”

Hanzo jolted up from his lounging position, having to scrabble with his claws to stay up on the branch. That was Jesse’s voice. He peered down at the cowboy. There was a glare on his face, but one that was tinged with amusement and humor. Hanzo chirped and sat on the branch with his tail dangling down. It was wagging ever so slightly.

“Oh, don’t you give me that cute look. You an’ your little friend led me on a chase and made me fall in a goddamn pond!”

Hanzo couldn’t help it, his tail wagged a little faster. Sure, it hadn’t been the nicest thing he and Genji had ever done, but it certainly had been amusing. It also hadn’t been entirely on purpose. They hadn’t really anticipated that Jesse would be chasing them so hard, nor had they anticipated him having the _skills_ to chase after them like that. And neither of them had realized that Jesse would vault over a fence to continue the chase.

It made sense in retrospect, but at the time it had been shocking.

“Aw c’mon, don’t look so damn cute. It makes it real hard to be angry. I had to rinse silt out of my hat…” Jesse scuffed his foot against the ground and gave him a pouty look. “I’m tryin’ to be upset with you, little noodle. You could have the good grace to not be so fuckin’ cute.”

Hanzo bit back a laugh, which sounded similar to hissing, but with a warmer tone. _He’s kind of cute…_

“Now yer laughin’ at me? Ouch. C’mon little noodle, throw me a bone here.”

_I suppose I could be nice to him…_ Though it wasn’t something Hanzo considered lightly. Getting close to someone while in such a small, vulnerable form was something that usually frightened Hanzo. But Jesse had proved that he was a trustworthy individual. That he was gentle and kind, smarter than he seemed as well. That even though he was irritated with ‘little noodle’ he wasn’t doing anything to catch him or hurt him. So Hanzo was willing to take a risk with him. Hanzo hopped off of the branch and lazily flew down to Jesse and landed on his shoulder.

“H...huh?” Jesse stared at Hanzo with wide eyes and his mouth slightly agape. “O...kay. I didn’t expect you to come an’ say hello. Hey there little noodle.”

Hanzo cheeped a hello and let his tail hang over Jesse’s shoulder. This close, he could see the different shades of brown in Jesse’s eyes, as well as the fact that he looked like he could use a shave. It even looked like he had faint freckles. _He really is handsome…_

“This yer way of apologizin’ for takin’ me on a wild goose chase that ended with me in a pond?” Jesse’s face had softened and he was tentatively moving his hand closer, like he was going to pet him. “Guess goose isn’t the right word though...you ain’t a goose. You kinda look like a little dragon, but dragons are all big, ain’t they? Guess I’mma just call you little noodle then.”

Hanzo butted his head against Jesse’s hand - a clear indication that petting was allowed and welcomed. That this was, indeed, a type of apology. This wasn’t what Hanzo would usually do when he was in this form. Usually he’d go and find a sunspot to laze in for a few hours and call it good. But this was a different sort of relaxation. It wasn’t like Hanzo allowed himself to drop his guard like this when he was in his human form…

And it was kind of nice to have Jesse rambling at him. His voice was warm and smooth, soothing. Somehow it eased the tension out of Hanzo’s muscles. That...and he kind of liked being called ‘little noodle.’ It was affection that he was often denied because of his status.

“How’s about we sit down then, hm?” Jesse walked over to a nearby bench and settled down on it. “Still in the sun...you were sunnin’ yourself before, right?”

_He really is observant, isn’t he…_ Hanzo wasn’t entirely sure how long Jesse had been watching him before saying something. He had assumed that it wasn’t a very long time...but if he noticed that Hanzo was sunning himself… _Or he’s just very quick at making his observations. Good eyes._ Hanzo nodded and huffed when the soft fur of his mane fell across his snout and tickled.

“Alright...let’s just have a sit then. You can come down off my shoulder if you want.”

_This is a really bad idea…_ Hanzo hopped down off of Jesse’s shoulder onto his lap. _He’s going to figure out who I am…_ He coiled up like a donut and basked in the warmth of the sun. _If he figures out who I am, I’m never going to be able to live it down…_ Between the heat from the sun and the warmth radiating up from Jesse’s lap, Hanzo was starting to drift off. _But...this is really nice…_

* * *

  


**[from: Sparrow, sent 2:41pm]** hey, want to get ramen? rikimaru has a sale going on.

Hanzo stared down at the words on his phone and hummed as he stared at them. He had been looking forward to an afternoon of getting some training in, but he was weak to ramen. He could eat a meal, be asked to go to Rikimaru, and agree without hesitation. He’d even have multiple bowls of ramen at that point.

But it felt like he’d been slacking on his training as of late…

Ever since the tentative partnership with Blackwatch had been formed, Hanzo had barely had any time for his training. That annoyed him more than he wanted to admit - training was one of the things that kept Hanzo feeling level. It made him able to handle everything the elders threw at him.

But…

_Ramen._

His brother really did know him too well. He knew that ramen would get Hanzo to drop whatever he was doing.

**[to: Sparrow, sent 2:45pm]** alright, meet you in the courtyard in five

Hanzo ran back to his room - there was no way that he was going to Rikimaru in his training clothes. He wore a traditional kyudo-gi when he was training, there was no way he was running around with half of his chest hanging out. Especially not when the weather was so chilly. It didn’t take long to shed his training clothes off and throw on something more casual. He was certain Genji was going to give him shit for not being dressed fashionably, but Hanzo didn’t care. He wanted to be comfortable, not fashionable. Genji was trying to instill that Hanzo could be fashionable _and_ comfortable, but Hanzo didn’t really believe him yet.

He jogged down to the courtyard and instead of seeing Genji waiting for him, he was greeted with the sight of Jesse standing by himself. _Genji didn’t mention that Jesse would be joining us…_ Not that Jesse’s presence would have any bearing on Hanzo’s decision to have ramen, but he would have liked the heads up regardless. The issue was that there wasn’t a Genji in sight at all whatsoever.

That was a little suspicious.

Hanzo shook away his suspicions and walked out into the courtyard. This had the feeling of Genji meddling all over it, but that was status quo for Hanzo’s life.

“Oh, hey there Hanzo, lookin’ good. Your brother just messaged and said he can’t make it. A shame, right?” Jesse laughed and rubbed the back of his neck again. “We can still grab ramen though, I don’t mind if it's just us.”

_Genji, you’re a little shit and I’m so getting you back for this._ It took his mind a moment to catch up with what Jesse said and when it did, Hanzo felt a hot flush spread across his cheeks. _Did he actually say that I look good…?_

Hanzo shook off the fact that he was flustered, and then smiled and nodded. “That sounds fine with me. Genji mentioned that Rikimaru has a sale going on.”

Really, Hanzo felt like he should be showing Jesse more of the local food other than Rikimaru, but it seemed like a moot point. Hanzo loved ramen, ramen was foreigner friendly...it all worked out. The two walked the short distance to Rikimaru and took a seat at the counter.

“I know i should be tryin’ more than jus’ ramen, but it really hits the spot, ya know? An’ there’s so many different types that I don’t think I’ll get through them all while I’m in Japan…” Jesse chuckled and looked at the menu. “Still can’t read the menu worth shit, though.”

Hanzo bit back a laugh and pretended to be browsing the menu despite the fact that he already knew what he wanted. “I understand. Ramen is one of my favorites.” He traced his finger along the menu. “Hot pot is technically better in this weather...but hot pot is hard to find at this time of day…” And if he was having hot pot, he wanted it to be a family event. Or at the very least him and Genji…

Jesse hummed a little and fumbled through ordering a beverage in rough, halting Japanese. “So...how’s about you help me with the menu again, hm?” He was grinning. “We can even make another deal.”

The flirty deal making had been fine and dandy when Hanzo didn’t know who the random foreigner was. Now he knew and the flirty deal making had more meaning and most definitely flustered him more than he wanted to admit. “I suppose I can help you out. You will have to make it worth my time, though.”

Another laugh. “Well, how’s about I pay for everything an’ you help me pick out something good?”

_That sounds like a date._ Hanzo wasn’t about to say that out loud though. He didn’t want to sound presumptuous or overeager or anything like that. After all, they were two colleagues out for a snack. There wasn’t anything date-like about that. This was just Hanzo helping him out and Jesse compensating him.

Not a date.

It just sounded like one.

Kind of.

He was overthinking this. A lot.

“Seems fair. I think you had spicy beef last time...are you wanting something different this time around?” Hanzo murmured a thank you to the person who dropped off their drinks. He sipped and brought his eyes over to Jesse.

“Ah, no. If I’m gonna keep gettin’ ramen, I’ve gotta at least try different flavors each time I’m here.” Jesse chuckled. “I really liked the spicy beef, though…”

Hanzo proceeded to point out the various items on the menu that were similar to the spicy beef, as well as a few that Hanzo thought he might enjoy despite being dissimilar. Jesse asked questions about a few of them and outright vetoed some of them - not that Hanzo was completely surprised by that fact. He had thrown a few weirder variants into the mix just to see how Jesse reacted. It took a bit, but they finally ordered their ramen.

But now they were without an obvious conversation topic, which meant despite all the effort the elders had thrown into him that Hanzo was going to flounder with the basics of conversation. It was a source of constant shame for the elders - they’d worked very hard to make him good in social situations only to realize that Hanzo was naturally rather introverted and harbored a fairly strong dislike of most people.

“So you an’ Genji come here pretty often, yeah?” Jesse was all smiles as he sipped at his beverage. “Cuz this is where Gabe an’ I first met you two.” He paused and tilted his head to the side. “Any reason you two were usin’ the fakest fake names out there?”

Hanzo bristled lightly at the mention of the names. “To be fair, Genji does have the nickname of Sparrow. So it wasn’t a fake na0me.” But his expression softened slightly. “We do come here fairly often, ever since we were children.”

“But _your_ name was a fake name, eh, Archer?” Jesse snickered, but there was no heat in his comment. All play and jest. “That’s sweet, that you an’ your brother have been comin’ here so often. You two must be close then.”

Hanzo quirked a brow up. “Archer is not my name, but it isn’t fake. I _am_ an archer.” He drummed his fingers along the counter - now wasn’t the time to mention that their mother had been the one who really started the whole going to Rikimaru thing. That would just put a damper on the mood considering Hanzo’s mother had died several years earlier. “Yes...Genji and I are rather close. He’s obnoxious and a little shit, but he’s my brother.”

_Of which...Genji the little shit is getting it for bailing out of getting ramen with Jesse and I._

“...wait, you do archery? yer an archer?” Jesse sounded confused, like he didn’t believe Hanzo. He supposed he couldn’t blame him considering the fact that Jesse hadn’t seen him in action. Hanzo watched him bring his hands up in defense - an ‘I don’t want trouble’ pose. “No um...that’s really cool. I’m something of a marksman myself. Jus’ cool to meet someone else that appreciates marksmanship.”

Hanzo deflated. He’d started to get all puffed up, ready to tear into Jesse for underestimating him. _I need to not be like this...I need to think better of people...jumping to conclusions won’t do me any good._

“Yes, I’m an archer.” He perked up a little when he realized that Jesse was saying he was a marksman as well. _I wonder if he does archery as well? I can’t see Blackwatch thinking archery is a viable method of ranged marksmanship though…_ “I’ve been training since I was quite little...my mother taught me.”

_Oh. I shouldn’t have brought her up…_

“I’m no archer, but I’m a gunslinger. I favor six shooters.” Jesse grinned and straightened up. “Best shot in Blackwatch.”

It seemed that Jesse could feel the awkwardness around the topic of Hanzo’s mother and was avoiding it. For that, Hanzo was grateful. That wasn’t a conversation that he wanted to have at this point in time. If ever.

Their ramen arrived and the two of them fell into natural conversation. Playful, amused conversation. Hanzo was laughing, making jokes, betting that he could best Jesse in a contest of aim. He didn’t know what to bet, but he told Jesse he’d figure it out. It turned out that Jesse _was_ a gambling man and was more than okay with figuring out who was the better shot among the two of them.

_This is nice…_

_I could get used to this…_

Hanzo laughed again and guarded his ramen when Jesse tried to steal a little bit from him.

_Thanks Genji…_


	3. Chapter 3

**[from: Gabe, sent 17:00pm]** Urgent backup required from McCree and Shimada x2. Shopping district of Hanamura, we have an omnic crisis. Report ASAP.

Jesse stared at his phone for a few moments and honestly wondered if Gabe had meant to type ‘requested’ rather than ‘required.’ But the urgency of the message told him otherwise and he started getting into his tactical gear. Even if there was an ASAP on the message, he knew he’d get complete hell if he tried to show up in civilian clothes.

**[from: Gabe, sent 17:03pm]** stop sittin’ on your thumbs, vaquero. you’ve got work to get done.

“Goddammit, Gabe, s’not like I can teleport to the damn shopping district.” Jesse rolled his eyes and tugged on his chest plate. He sure as hell hoped that the second message wasn’t sent the to the group. That would be embarrassing.

He wanted to think that Gabe wouldn’t embarrass him like that, but sometimes Gabe lived to drop embarrassment bombs on him. But usually that was in a playful manner, not in a public humiliating way. Gabe knew that Jesse wouldn’t handle that well…

Jesse shook away his thoughts, tugged his boots on, and started jogging to the shopping district. He needed to stop thinking about his personal issues at this point - omnic crisis. Those weren’t words that he wanted to see together. Ever. He hadn’t been old enough to fight in the first one. But he was old enough to know what had happened. He was old enough to have been displaced during it. He was old enough to  _ remember _ . 

Jesse didn’t want anyone else going through that.

He was out of breath and panting by the time he got to the shopping district, but he didn’t even have time to get a full lung of air before the grimness of the situation settled in. There was smoke spiraling in the air. He could hear people crying, screaming, shouting. He could smell the acrid stench of burning electronics. Jesse tried to calm himself and get himself centered, but it was overwhelming. All of his training couldn’t counteract the fact that his hometown had been hit in the original omnic crisis. It couldn’t overwrite the memories that were flashing through his mind.

“Jesse! Over here!” Genji called out, his voice carrying over the din of everything going on.

Jesse snapped back to attention, back to the here and now. He had a task. He needed to help. There were people in danger. He could deal with his own issues later, when the situation wasn’t dire.

He ran toward Genji and waved. “I’m here. Sorry it took me a few.” He gave a weak smile and jolted when he heard a building nearby crunch in a sickening way.  _ That isn’t good...that building’s probably going to collapse… _

Hanzo was giving him an odd look, not a judging one, just an  _ odd _ one. Jesse ignored it - he didn’t want to know what was on Hanzo’s mind. He doubted it would make him feel better about himself. “It is no problem. You are here now.”

Yes. Jesse was here now. He exhaled slow and steady and looked around. Now that he was more in the here and now he could see omnics with magic or electricity or  _ something _ sparking off of them - kind of like the devices they’d encountered before...but worse? Or just different. It was hard to tell. But it was easy to see that the omnics were  _ not _ exactly pleased with the world. Jesse squinted and felt his chest tighten. There were civilians near those omnics.

“Alright. Genji, see those civilians back there? I need you gettin’ them clear of this. You’re the speedy one, right?” He waited for Genji to nod and then jerked his head. “Go. We’ll cover you.”

“But…”

“Gettin’ those civilians out is the more important task. Go!” Jesse barked as he pulled out Peacekeeper - thankfully Genji was skittering off to handle the civilians. He didn’t want to hurt the omnics either...they had lives just the same as everyone else. He looked through all the fancy ammunition that Gabe had given him, there had to be something he could utilize in there that would make sure the omnics didn’t wind up dead…

He wanted as few casualties as possible.

“...thank you for getting Genji into a safer position.” Hanzo’s voice was soft, almost a little vulnerable sounding. “I agree that the civilians are the important part of this...but I’m glad you sent Genji.”

Really, Jesse had been prioritizing Genji’s speed rather than Hanzo’s feelings, it just happened to be a happy coincidence this time around.

“S’not a problem.” Jesse muttered as he grabbed some electrified rounds. They would immobilize the omnics for a period of time...they were his best bet for minimizing casualties. “Okay. Our plan...uh...I want to avoid casualties among the omnics. If this is related to the magical flare-ups, then this ain’t their fault.”

His eyes were on Genji as he took two kids out of the fray and to safety. Good. He and Hanzo were going to need to start providing cover soon, though. They couldn’t keep dicking around.

“I...see. I understand. I believe I have arrows that will disable them rather than kill them.” Hanzo tapped a button on the side of his quiver - Jesse could only assume that the button changed the type of arrowhead that was being used.

“Perfect.” Jesse loaded up Peacekeeper and gave Hanzo a grin. As much as the words ‘omnic crisis’ made Jesse want to turn tail and run, the adrenaline of a fight had him staying. Blackwatch operatives were different than those who worked with Overwatch - a lot of them had darker backgrounds. Jesse included. He  _ liked _ fighting. It made him feel alive. “Right...we’re gonna give Genji some coverin’ fire. Remember, we don’t want casualties if we can help it. Let’s go!”

There wasn’t much else he could do plan-wise. This was spur of the moment, they were a small team. They would look out for each other and take down as many enemies as they could. 

Plus...Jesse wanted to see Hanzo in action.

From there on, it was like everything sound was underwater. Everything was murky and blending together, but Jesse’s focus was sharp. It was almost like the world was moving in slow motion, but Jesse was moving as he usually would. The only one keeping up with him was Hanzo - which was both surprising and a tiny bit hot.  _ Not the time for those thoughts, McCree. _

He fired several shots in a row, buzzing electric bullets embedding into the chassis of the omnics. Jesse held his breath and hoped to any god out there that the electric rounds worked. One second passed, then a second, and finally electricity crackled across the chassis and the omnics collapsed. From what he could tell...they were still functional. They weren’t dead.  _ Thank goodness… _

A flash of green moving through the crowd caught his attention - Genji. Jesse’s heart clenched when he saw one of the remaining omnics going for Genji. “Hanzo! Your brother!” Jesse was reloading and while he was fast, there was no way that he was going to be fast enough to get the shots off to save Genji.

Everything went still. Not like when Jesse was hyperfocused, but like the calm before a storm. A quick glance to Hanzo revealed his face twisted in fury and an almost palpable rage hanging in the air like a stifling blanket. There was blue light dancing along Hanzo’s left arm, along the tattoo that Jesse knew was hiding beneath his sleeve. For a terrible moment, Jesse could feel lethal intent hanging in the air like a guillotine. 

But the moment was gone when Hanzo loosed several arrows in quick succession. Two hit the poor omnic, who hit the ground and twitched from the excess electricity surging through them. The other arrows nicked nearby omnics and had them jolting before hitting the ground while shaking and shuddering.   _ Oh my god he’s fucking hot, god help me… _ Hanzo kept his hand on his bow as he shook, his eyes fixed on Genji as Genji retreated with two more citizens in tow. 

Jesse watched him for a few more moments - Hanzo’s chest was heaving and his cheeks were flushed with irritation or anger. That same paralyzing power from the meeting room was emanating from Hanzo and his eyes almost appeared to be golden instead of brown…

“Thank you.” Hanzo’s voice was tight and his posture stiff. “We cannot let our guard down...there are more…”

Jesse knew that Hanzo was right. As much as he wanted to admire his partner a little longer, he knew it was unwise and unsafe. There were still omnics overloaded with magic. They needed to make sure they were immobilized while citizens were evacuated and rescued. There was no time to sit and stare at Hanzo. Jesse could hear Gabe chastising him in his mind and could feel the scolding that was in his future if he didn’t get back to business.

He sighed and pulled himself back into the needed mindset. Calm and collected, but not detached.  _ If I focus enough and we get into shit...I can get us out. I know it. Might have to use it...but... _ Jesse didn’t want to have to resort to that, but he would if push came to shove. There was work to be done.

* * *

  
  


Jesse’s eyes were closed and he was leaning back in his chair - he hadn’t managed to get any sleep since the omnic uprising. Exhaustion was dragging him down like an anchor and he honestly didn’t want to fight it. All he really wanted to do was sleep. But that wasn’t in the cards yet. No, Gabe had set up a meeting with the two of them and some of the people back at Overwatch headquarters.

As much as Jesse knew it was his job to have meetings like this and report in and all that jazz, he was dead tired from actually doing the mission. He doubted he was going to be particularly lucid or helpful during the briefing. But he didn’t voice that to Gabe. He figured it took some serious effort to get schedules to line up on short notice, so Jesse would soldier through everything. Hopefully he could just collapse in bed when everything was said and done. He felt like he could sleep for a week.

“Keep your eyes open,  _ vaquero _ . You want to let Ana catch you sleeping on the job?” While Gabe’s tone was harsh, his eyes were twinkling in amusement. 

Jesse grumbled, straightened up, and begrudgingly opened his eyes. “No, because she’ll mention it, then Jackass’ll say somethin’ an’ I’ll get lectured to hell an’ back for fallin’ asleep durin’ a briefing.” 

He still wasn’t completely aware of what was going on around him, his eyes muddled with sleep.  _ maybe I did actually fall asleep there. Oops. _ But Jesse snapped back to reality the second he heard laughter that  _ wasn’t _ Gabe. His eyes focused in on the image being projected onto the wall. He was greeted with the sight of Ana Amari and Jack Morrison looking both very amused and  _ incredibly _ irritated.

The meeting had already started.

_ Fuck. _

“I mean...uh…” Jesse laughed weakly and scratched the back of his head. “Um. Hi. Good to see you both again?”

At the very least, Ana looked like she was trying to hide laughter. Jack, on the other hand, looked like he was trying to choke down vinegar.  _ Well, guess this is just another one of those lessons about thinking before you speak… _ Jesse tugged at his collar and gave a nervous smile.

“Sleeping on the job, Jesse?” Ana  _ sounded _ like she was desperately trying to hold laughter back. 

“I just had a mission! I’m a little tired.” Jesse pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. And it hadn’t exactly been an easy mission. There had only really been the three of them and there had been  _ a lot _ of omnics. Thankfully, Jesse was able to keep casualties to a minimum. “Haven’t slept yet.”

It almost seemed like Gabe’s face softened minutely, but the expression was gone a second later.  _ Maybe I actually imagined that?  _ He couldn’t actually be certain, he was too tired.

“Lack of sleep doesn’t excuse insubordination.” Jack growled out. His voice sounded especially rough today - maybe he actually  _ was _ gargling gravel nowadays.

But of course Jack was focusing on the fact that Jesse had called him jackass.  _ It’s a nickname! He should feel flattered that I care enough to give him one! _

“Ease up, Jackie. I’ll deal with McCree’s insubordination later. Don’t forget we’ve got a stupid amount of time difference on top of everything.” Gabe sighed. “Alright. Might as well get this shit show going, yeah?”

There was a rumble of assent from everyone and Jesse merely sighed. He didn’t really want to have a meeting, but his opinion didn’t really matter at this point. Jesse was well aware where he stood with Gabe, Ana, and Jack. Moreso it came down to the fact that this meeting was necessary for their continued investigation.

“Status report?” Jack sighed and rubbed at his face. It looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep either. Jesse had to imagine that everything going on back at headquarters was pretty stressful considering no one really knew what was causing these incidents to happen.

“Arrived at Hanamura at 19:01 on Tuesday.” Gabe spoke in an even, calm voice. “Much of that evening was spent recuperating after the flight and getting food in our systems. On Wednesday, we explored the city to get the lay of the land as well as hear what locals had to say. I also set up a formal meeting with the Shimada family.” He paused for a moment, then laughed. “Hey Jackie, remind me to have you listen to McCree’s attempts at Japanese.”

A sharp, withering glare was all that Jesse and Gabe got in response.  _ Someone’s definitely in a mood… _

“The following day we had a formal meeting with the Shimada.” Gabe continued. “It went just about as expected. They were more cooperative than intel would lead them to be. I was grateful for that. Following morning there was an incident, a magic flare-up. Having the Shimada boys assisting us proved to be extremely helpful.”

Jesse nodded. “They were able to give some insight into what causes the flare-ups. Said that the devices affected weren’t running off electricity. Kinda figured that meant there was too much magic. They were also the ones who figured out that if an omnic was in the area when something like that happened...bad shit would happen.”

It looked like Jack and Ana were taking notes on everything that was being said. “And they can tell because…?”

Jesse furrowed his brow. “I mean, I can’t be certain...but they _ feel _ like they have magic. And they were all out of sorts when we were closer to the flare...ya know? An’ the townspeople gave us some interesting information on that. How the ‘chivalrous Shimada organization’ is traditionally run by dragons. An’ I don’t just mean in the clan symbol way.”

Ana nodded and took down another note. “The Shimada men that are working with you, they are the two heirs, yes?”

Jesse nodded. He was enjoying working with Hanzo and Genji, well, as much as one could enjoy working with someone when the world as they knew it was seemingly falling apart. The two worked hard, knew when to lighten up, and had sharp minds. And it was nice to work with people his age for once.

“You reported another incident, Gabe?” Jack looked up, his brows were furrowed together and he looked  _ old _ .

“Yes. There was an omnic uprising.” 

Jesse wasn’t entirely sure how Gabe was so calm when he said that...it was scary as hell to be admitting that something even  _ kind of  _ close to the omnic crisis had happened. At least that’s how it was for  _ Jesse _ . It seemed that Jesse wasn’t alone in that thought, because it looked like both Jack and Ana went pale.  _ Good to know I’m not the only one who’s scared… _

“Care to elaborate on that?” Jack deadpanned.

_ Not really _ .

“Happened early this morning.” Jesse sighed as he rubbed at his face. “Can’t remember what time. Don’t feel like checkin’ my phone.” He tried to remember everything. “Uh...shopping district. We handled everything with no casualties and few injuries, including the omnics.” It didn’t feel like there was much more to say than that, so he didn’t go into much more detail.

“Good. It sounds like you’ve both been busy.” Jack nodded as he went over his notes. “Theories on what’s causing all this nonsense?”

That was harder to pinpoint. Very obviously, something with magic was in flux, but it wasn’t like Jesse had the expertise to actually determine  _ what _ was wrong. All he could give Jack and Ana was the fact that magic was out of whack. 

“Well...all I can really say is that something is fuckin’ with magic.” Jesse’s tone was blunt as a hammer and dry as can be. “And that we’ve been really lucky...there could have been a lot of people hurt or killed.”

_ If that uprising had happened in a more populated part of the town...or even a bigger city… _

It would have been disastrous.

Gabe hummed and drummed his fingers against the table. “We can only make guesses, Jackie. We’ve only got theories, okay? But if there isn’t a natural cause to all this...then it means there’s a group out there trying to cause chaos and disorder.” He paused and sighed. “I don’t want to say it, but you know that sounds familiar…”

Jesse didn’t want to say it either. He knew what Gabe was thinking. It was classic Niflheim tactics. He supposed it could be Talon as well...but...this wasn’t their usual modus operandi. Well, it kind of was given the whole manifesto of ‘humanity becomes stronger through conflict’ thing. But the type of conflict was wrong. It didn’t seem right. Niflheim fit way better. It was too chaotic for Talon - Doomfist was the type who preferred to be in control of the chaos that his group wrought upon the world.

Apparently no one wanted to admit that Niflheim could possibly be behind this given the fact that both Jack and Ana were silent. 

“is there any chance that the Shimada could be behind this?” Jack finally spoke - Jesse felt irritation prickle along his spine. He didn't appreciate that Jack was deflecting blame to the Shimada instead of admitting that Niflheim might be involved.

“I don’t think so.” Jesse said without hesitation. “they're helping us. If they were the ones doing this, I seriously doubt that they'd be giving us theories and assistance.”

That wasn't entirely sure. Jesse knew that if he was still with Deadlock and trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes that he'd be doing exactly what the Shimada were doing. He wasn't going to say that, though. While it was a technique that was often utilized by organizations like the Shimada or Deadlock, it didn't feel right in this situation.

At least that's what he was hoping.

* * *

  
  


After that meeting, everything went a bit quieter. Jesse didn't really mind - it was nice to have a few minutes to breathe. Breaks were appreciated, even if they were difficult to  fully appreciate because of the ominous feeling looming over everything. Still, Jesse was young and wanted to enjoy his time overseas, at least a little.

Which is why it was so damn confusing to him when he found himself wandering to the Shimada manor on his day off. Jesse wanted a break from work, yet he was waiting outside for one of the guards to let him in. Which they did, without question. They knew who he was, they probably assumed that he was here for work. It was a poor assumption since Jesse didn’t even know why he was there.

“Whatcha doing here, cowboy?” 

Jesse jolted at the voice and nearly fell down from the surprise. He pressed a hand to his chest and felt his heart pounding. His eyes flicked to where he thought the voice was: it was Genji Shimada. The younger Shimada was perched up in one of the Sakura trees with a wide grin painted on his face. His green hair was tousled and windblown, his cheeks were almost as pink as the blossoms on the trees.  _ Damn ninja and damn his ability to sneak up on me… _

“just figured that I'd check in an’ everything, ya know?” being startled had his accent coming out in full force. It wasn't like Jesse made a concentrated effort to hide his accent, but he did try to tone it down  _ a little. _ Jesse wasn't ashamed of his southern roots by any means, but he'd gotten a lot of shit for his accent and mannerisms when he'd first gotten to Blackwatch. Hiding it a tiny bit made him sound more ‘professional.’ He let the accent come out full force when he wanted people to underestimate him.

“hmm, you don't sound very convinced, Jesse.” Genji hopped down from his perch and somehow landed silently. “so why are you really here?”

_ Damn perceptive ninja. Not fair. _

“Uh...wouldja accept the answer of me not knowin’ why I'm here?” Jesse sighed and then removed his hat so he could run a hand through his hair.

“that's a bit existential, isn't it?” Genji snickered as he planted his hands on his hips. “I did not realize you were so philosophical.”

Jesse rolled his eyes.  _ Can't say anything without getting teased, dammit. _ “You know what I meant.” He sighed and shrugged. “Guess I'm bored. I kinda just wandered here.”

The sound Genji made was far too knowing for Jesse’s tastes and comfort. He didn’t like that someone was able to read him so easily. Or thought they knew his intentions when Jesse himself didn't really know his intentions.

“I would drag you to the arcade, but I have training to do. But I can tell you where to find my brother.”

_ Why is he grinning at me like that?  _ But it was better than nothing. Genji was more social and friendly than his brother, but his energy got a bit overbearing, even for Jesse. Plus, Hanzo was intriguing. Jesse wanted to get to know him better if only to solve some of the mysteries. 

“What makes you think I want to know where your brother’s at?” Jesse wasn’t entirely sure why he was pretending to be uninterested. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Genji.

The cheshire cat smile on Genji’s face only got wider. “Now now, cowboy, don’t be shy! I’ve seen you eyeing up my brother.”

_ Goddamn observant ninja! _ Jesse choked on air, frantically adjusted his hat, and then looked away to hide the pinkness that was forming on his cheeks. “Ain’t doin’ nothing of the sort.”

“Of course you haven’t.” Genji hummed before shrugging. “He’s in the courtyard doing archery practice, not that you care or anything. Didn’t think you’d be a  _ tsundere _ , cowboy.” And with that, the younger Shimada heir was darting off like a ninja out of an anime or something.  _ I’m calling him Naruto from now on. _

Jesse chewed his lower lip for a moment before starting toward the courtyard. He kept telling himself that he didn’t really care, yet he kept walking toward where Genji said Hanzo was training.  _ It’s just for work. I’m seeing what he’s capable of. That’s all. _

…

Yeah, Jesse couldn’t even convince himself with that lie, no one else was going to believe it either.

It didn’t take him long to situate himself up into a tree so he could peer into the courtyard with ease. Just as Genji said, Hanzo was there. There were several targets set up on a makeshift archery range - the targets were far enough down the range for Jesse to be sufficiently impressed. Hanzo was clothed in traditional clothing again, one that had half his chest bared. If Jesse had to guess, it was probably some sort of gi. But his guess wasn’t really worth much, it wasn’t like he knew anything about martial arts or archery.

_ Is it okay to watch him like this? _ Jesse didn’t really know, but he couldn’t take his  eyes off of Hanzo. There was something in the way that he pulled the bowstring back that was so elegant and grace but still so  _ strong _ . Jesse doubted that he would be able to look so good while pulling back a string. A second later the arrow was flying straight and true - even Jesse could tell that it was going to be a bullseye. That was confirmed another second later. Only then did Jesse exhale - he hadn’t even realized that he’d been holding his breath the whole time.  _ Damn he’s pretty…wait...bad McCree, no thoughts like that! _

He shook away his thoughts and continued watching Hanzo from his perch in the tree. Each arrow fired hit the target, all grouped near the center. Even when he was firing in quick succession. 

And from such a distance…

Jesse was definitely impressed.

He shifted a little and felt his body start to careen to one side. He gripped onto the branch with his thighs to keep from falling and braced with his hands. Jesse put a hand on his chest as his heart thumped hard in his chest, it felt like it was trying to escape his body. He brought his gaze back to the range and hoped that he hadn’t disturbed Hanzo (part because he didn’t want to interrupt and part because he didn’t want to be caught spying). It seemed like he was in the clear. Jesse exhaled and rested his back against the tree and hoped that he’d be able to keep his balance this time. 

Jesse continued watching Hanzo’s practice with interest, though his eyes were lingering on Hanzo’s appearance rather than the arrows that were embedding in the targets. But the man seemed to pause and exhale, almost like he was deciding that he’d had enough practice for the day. Like he was tired, frustrated, or even bored. A quick look at his quiver revealed that there were only two arrows left anyway…

But that bored or frustrated expression was gone a second later, replaced with determination and focus. One of the two arrows was grabbed, nocked in quick succession, and then fired. The action was so fast that Jesse was certain most people wouldn’t notice most of it, but Jesse had been told time and time again that he had extremely good eyesight, good enough that some people thought his eyes were enhanced. They weren’t. 

“Damn…” Jesse whispered as the arrow split the entire length of one of the other arrows. He’d never seen anything quite like that before…  _ That’s so fucking cool. _

Jesse yelped as he heard something whiz past his head, followed by the dull thunk of an arrow burying itself in something. He jolted hard enough that he nearly fell off of his branch and flailed to try and keep his balance. He wasn’t entirely sure  _ how _ he managed to stay up in the tree, but he did. He panted and started feeling along his arms and torso for a wound, but found nothing.  _ Wait...an arrow?? _

He glanced over at the practice range and found Hanzo glaring at him with an intensity that was probably capable of rendering most people impotent. Jesse just felt a tiny thrill surge through him. 

“Any reason you decided to spy on me, cowboy?” Hanzo’s tone was careful, but Jesse could hear the threat hanging in it.

_ Huh...he’s kind of pretty when he glares like that.  _ Jesse scratched at his chin and realized that those thoughts weren’t exactly  _ normal _ . He sighed. “Didn’t really mean to spy. Genji told me I could find you here an’ I didn’t want to interrupt your training.”

Hanzo mumbled just loud enough that Jesse could hear him, but he couldn’t understand any of the words as they were in Japanese. He did manage to pick up ‘Genji’, though. Again, Hanzo seemed to sigh and rubbed at his face. “Get out of that tree, I do not feel like explaining to Commander Reyes why his agent fell and broke his body.” The edge was still there, but it wasn’t as threatening this time around. He almost sounded  _ irritated _ now.

Jesse hopped down out of the tree with a grin. Okay, he’d been caught staring and spying, but somehow he didn’t really mind. “Come on now, I wouldn’t break my whole body, that’s just ridiculous. The fall wouldn’t have been near high enough for something like that.”

“...that’s the part you’re debating? Really?” Jesse couldn’t see Hanzo, but the exasperation in his voice was nearly palpable.

“Yup!” Jesse climbed the wall into the courtyard a moment later, half because he could and half because he didn’t really feel like trying to find the door into it. The Shimada manor was way too much like a labyrinth at times. “Got a problem with that?”

Now that he was up close, Jesse could see the fine sheen of sweat on Hanzo’s brow, that he was breathing a bit heavier as well.  _ He really is pretty… _

“You’re absolutely ridiculous.” Hanzo deadpanned as he set his bow down. “So Genji told you where I am?”

Jesse nodded as he planted his hands on his hips. “Yeah. It’s my day off...kinda wandered here on accident. So he pointed me in your direction after tellin’ me he had training to do.”

Hanzo’s brows furrowed at the mention of Genji training - which somehow made him look pouty instead of irritated.  _ He’s too attractive. _ “Genji trained this morning. He wouldn’t train--” The sound he made was very nearly a growl. “...he must be sneaking off to get away from the elders...and they’ll blame me.”

Jesse couldn’t even pretend to understand Hanzo’s family situation, but being blamed for his younger brother wandering off sounded pretty fucked up. Not that he was going to voice that opinion, it wasn’t exactly his place. Nor did he know Hanzo well enough to gauge his reaction to comments like that. Jesse wasn’t about to push his luck and screw up the good rapport they had going. He’d say it was because they needed to get along because of work reasons, but he knew that wasn’t completely honest.

But he didn’t want to admit the exact reasons even to himself.

“Ah...sorry?” Jesse rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish smile. “I didn’t know he’d already done his training...so…”

“It is not your fault.” Hanzo huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Again, he just continued to look pouty. Jesse thought it was cute… “Genji is just being...Genji.”

The more Jesse watched him, the more he realized that Hanzo was amused and exasperated rather than actually irritated with his younger brother. And it seemed that he was entirely willing to cover for him and take the fall later on.  _ That’s pretty sweet of him... _

“Not entirely sure what that means, but okay.” 

“It means he’s being a little shit.” Hanzo snorted out a laugh and actually smiled. 

And that smile damn near took Jesse’s breath away. He felt heat creeping up his cheeks and wished that he could blame the sunlight, but he knew better. He knew it was because his heart sped up whenever Hanzo smiled like that, or that he started stumbling over his words more when he was around Hanzo. How he felt off balance. How he wanted to see that smile over and over again.

_ I think I like him… _

Jesse was surprisingly okay with that, especially given the situation. They were technically colleagues and Jesse had been so good at not crossing lines in his time at Blackwatch. Yet right now he felt like charging across those lines…

But he wouldn’t risk the entire operation on his infatuation. That wasn’t right.

_...but we can be friends...right…? _

* * *

  
  


Jesse wasn’t entirely sure why Gabe had called a meeting with them and the Shimada, but he just had to accept that it was happening. It wasn’t like Gabe was actually giving him any details this time around - which was strange. Usually Gabe was really good at telling him what was going on…

It was one of the ways that they built trust when Jesse started working with Blackwatch. He’d been a distrusting kid for many reasons. The big one was that Blackwatch had essentially destroyed the people who became Jesse’s family...the other being that one didn’t survive in Deadlock long if they let their guard down. Jesse simply hadn’t trusted  _ anyone _ …

The fact that Gabe wasn’t giving information now had Jesse’s proverbial hackles up. It meant that either Jesse wasn’t going to like the information or Gabe was being ordered to keep it quiet. Neither of those options sat well with him.

The walk to the Shimada manor was  _ silent _ . Jesse had already wasted a bunch of energy trying to get Gabe to give him _ any _ information. He wasn’t going to bother wasting anymore. Thankfully, the walk didn’t take long. It was just awkward as hell because of the overbearing, uncomfortable silence.

They were ushered into the same meeting room they’d been in when they first met the Shimada family. While the atmosphere that day had been tense, today was even worse. The tension in the air was enough to make Jesse want to squirm, but he merely sat in his seat and shot looks in Gabe’s direction.

Gabe was ignoring him.

_ I really don’t like this… _

Jesse removed his hat and then crossed his arms over his chest. Best to look like he was attempting to be polite. 

Jesse was grateful that the Shimada arrived a few minutes later - that they didn’t have to sit in awkward silence for a prolonged period of time. Both Sojiro and Hanzo looked calm and collected, though Jesse swore he could see Hanzo’s expression pinching a little. Genji looked a little anxious, though.  _ Maybe the elders found out that he was skipping out on training…? _

“A pleasure to see you again, Commander Reyes.” Sojiro bowed ever so slightly. “Though the meeting is unexpected. Has something happened?”

Gabe was still quiet, even after being asked what happened. That  _ really _ didn’t make Jesse feel better about the whole situation. All three took their seats, the calm mask that Hanzo had been wearing was starting to crack and reveal his real emotions.

He was nervous too.

“Sorry that the meeting is short notice.” Usually when Gabe spoke to people they were working with, he was charming and had a smooth diction. This time his voice was guarded and had an edge. “But there are questions that need to be asked and answered.”

_ Oh no. _

Jesse recognized that tone. He knew it all too well. It was a variation on his interrogation voice. He shivered at the memories that flitted through his mind - ones from when Deadlock was busted, ones of Gabe using that voice against  _ him _ . Feeling like he was backed into a corner like a trapped animal, feeling like he had no hope, knowing that he was likely going to get sentenced to life in prison before he was even eighteen years old. He shook the thoughts away and tried to keep focused on the meeting.  _ Now isn’t the time to be getting caught in my head...this isn’t like then. He’s just being serious…that’s all. _

At least that’s what Jesse hoped.

“And what exactly do you intend to ask?”

It was like a chill rushed through the room. Jesse shifted uncomfortably and was strongly reminded of that first moment he saw the Shimada family. Where the air felt electric and charged, except this time it was more intense. Jesse swore he could feel energy crackling and sparking against his arms - almost like static electricity, but somehow different. 

“We are infinitely grateful for the assistance you have provided thus far.” Gabe’s tone was slightly more diplomatic for that part, but there was still an edge there. “However, we find it highly suspicious that there is such a concentration of incidents here...and that your sons are so knowledgeable on how to handle them.”

_ Oh no _ .

Jesse shifted a little when he thought he felt someone’s eyes on him. He brought his gaze back up and saw Hanzo staring at him with wide eyes. It was strange to see the other man’s mask completely off, so bizarre to see him looking just as young as he actually was. But there was a question in Hanzo’s gaze -  _ did you know this was going to happen? _ Jesse shook his head minutely, this was just as surprising to him as it was the Shimada.

But he could see why Gabe opted to leave him out of the loop this time.

“I do not appreciate what you are implying, Reyes.” It felt like ice was radiating from Sojiro and Jesse swore he could see light dancing along his mainly concealed tattoo. He dismissed it as a trick of the light. “You think I would cause situations like this…? Ones that put my sons in danger? That put the people under my protection in danger?”

No, Jesse didn’t think that sounded right. The people of Hanamura respected the Shimada a good deal - some were afraid, obviously, but most simply respected them. Respect was earned. He took that to mean that Sojiro took care of the people under his protection. And even if you ignored that…

Jesse didn’t think Sojiro would put Hanzo and Genji into a dangerous situation that the Shimada engineered.

Nor could he think of  _ reasoning _ for them to do this. This was hurting them just as much as it hurt the community…

“Is it really danger if you’re the one who set everything up?”

_ Do Jack, Ana, and Gabe really think that the Shimada did this…? I thought we were going with Niflheim for the culprits… _

“That is the most idiotic reasoning. Of course it - hypothetically speaking - would still be dangerous if we were the ones who set it up.” Sojiro rolled his eyes, but there was venom in his voice. “I risk my sons’ safety to help solve the mystery...to find a solution.” He paused and straightened up in his chair. “There is no gain for the Shimada to cause something like this...much less at the risk of my sons.”

Jesse wanted to say something, but Gabe’s posture and general demeanor told him this was a ‘shut up, Jesse’ situation. So he stayed quiet, even though he wanted to point out that there  _ really _ wasn’t any gain for the Shimada in what Gabe was implying.

“The gain would be keeping the people of Hanamura reliant on your care. You come in and save them from the crises...and then they’re even more under your thumb.”

_ That’s straight up  _ **_Deadlock_ ** _ strategy. Shimada are better than that… _ “Sir...with all due respect...that doesn’t really sound like somethin’ the Shimada would do.” He wasn’t entirely sure how he forced his voice to work. Usually he was petrified when Gabe was like this. 

“And you’re suggesting that based off your week of experience with them…?” The look that Gabe shot at Jesse was enough to make him flinch and go back to staring at the tabletop.

Only once there was the crash of a chair hitting the ground did Jesse look up. Hanzo was back on his feet, the chair that he had been seated on sprawled on the floor of the room. His expression was calm, cool, poised, but Jesse could see the anger in his eyes.

“Pardon me, I will be excusing myself.” Hanzo bowed deeply. His tone was absolutely impeccable, nothing short of perfectly polite - but Jesse could clearly hear the underlying ‘fuck you and everything you stand for’ hidden within. “I do not wish to hear my family name dishonored by such accusations when all we have done is help your cause. Good day.” He straightened up, turned on heel, and walked away with an air that could only be described as  _ murder _ .

Jesse was breathless at the sight - both at how  _ gorgeous _ the man was when he was furious and at how much he admired him for standing up to Gabe. 

_ Damn… _

_ I really have it bad... _


	4. Chapter 4

Hanzo didn’t wait for anyone to react to his statement and merely walked out of the room with his head held high. He was tired of hearing his family name slandered, he was tired of people thinking that the fact that they were a criminal organization meant that they were unkind to the people under their protection. He was just tired.

Once he was out of the manor, Hanzo broke into a jog. He needed to put distance between him and his home - he didn’t exactly want anyone following him right. He needed time to cool down. Hanzo knew it wasn’t really in character for him to storm off when his family’s name was being put down like Reyes had been doing. Usually he was able to keep his cool and then be grumpy about it later…

This time…

_is it because it was in front of Jesse…?_ Hanzo shook that thought off as he scaled the side of a building without second thought. He knew that his father would send people after him, he didn’t intend to make it easy for them to find him. No, he intended to make it so the only person who might be able to find him was Genji. Or his father, but he knew that his father wasn’t going to climb a building to get Hanzo to be reasonable.

Even thinking that his father would do something like that was just ridiculous. He was far too dignified.

Hanzo ran along the rooftop without any issue. It was something that came naturally to him - after all, it was part of the strict training he and Genji received most days of their lives. Hanzo didn't always appreciate said training, but he did like the fact that he was able to climb buildings to get away from those who were bothering him. There was part of him that greatly enjoyed seeing their confused faces when he vanished before their eyes - when in reality all that was going on was that Hanzo was above them. A surprising amount of people didn't look up very often.

Once he was far enough away from the manor, Hanzo dropped down from the roofs and leaned against a building and sighed. He didn't know what was in store for him or his clan or his family and that bothered him. He didn't like being in the dark. One might say that he actually hated it. He knew his father wasn’t going to be pleased with the accusations that Blackwatch was making - but it was a toss-up if they would continue helping Blackwatch or withdraw their support.

Hanzo didn’t want his father to withdraw support. He was enjoying working with Jesse… Of course, he wanted to figure out what was going on and hopefully find a solution. But there was something about working with someone who was his age that was just...nice.

He tensed when he felt the uncomfortable feeling of someone watching him, his brows knitting together. _There’s no way that anyone was able to find me that quickly...unless father sent Genji after me…_ But Hanzo knew that Genji wouldn’t just...lurk. And that’s how this felt. It just felt like someone was lingering in the shadows and watching him. _Time to get moving again._ Hanzo took a step away from the wall and started to break into a jog.

“Well...I didn’t think we’d find the young dragon of the Shimada clan so easily.” The voice issued from behind him and was light and feminine. And speaking in English. That gave Hanzo a little bit of insight into the identity of this person, though not enough for him to make any reasonable guesses. He couldn’t be certain if this person was a threat or harmless.

Hanzo froze as he tried to figure out how he wanted to handle this. If this person was hostile, he didn’t want to keep his back to them. It was just asking for trouble. “Perhaps luck is on your side.” He turned his head a little bit to try and get a glimpse of the person who managed to sneak up on him.

No dice.

“That is up to you, little dragon.” Another voice - this one more masculine. Hanzo gritted his teeth and felt his proverbial hackles bristling. He didn’t like the fact that there were _two_ people behind him...or that he was being called _little dragon_.

Hanzo turned around slowly and kept his hands folded neatly in front of him, palm to palm. A neutral looking position, but it was one that would allow him to defend himself if the need happened to arise. No chance of his fingers locking together or getting tangled.

There were three people. One was just silent.

This wasn’t good.

“And who exactly are you?” Hanzo’s eyes darted between the three.

They couldn’t be much older than he was, if they were at all. The woman was small and slim with dark skin and her black hair cropped short. Her face was very nearly angelic looking, but there was just _something_ that steered him away from that thought. The man who spoke was taller than him by a fair amount, not that it was difficult to be taller than Hanzo, with white blonde hair and skin that looked like it might get sunburnt in moonlight. The third person was just...average. There was nothing particularly notable about them. Brown hair, tan skin, average height, average build. They seemed like the type that could just blend into their surroundings.

“Representatives of a very interested party.” The woman crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “My name is Alisa Ward, this is my colleague Liam McNeil.” She motioned to the ridiculously pale man. “And this is my colleague Noel Kane. They can’t talk, so don’t expect them to.”

Hanzo’s brows furrowed even more. _I don’t like that they haven’t told me who they represent...I’m pretty sure that means they know I’m not going to like who they represent._ Though he was very aware that the trio might be going for dramatic effect at this point. Hanzo sighed as he took the bait into asking where they were from. “...and who do you represent?”

The silence that followed his question only further convinced him that they were from a faction that he wasn’t going to approve of. As did the way they were shuffling around. Hanzo didn’t exactly like that he didn’t have an exit strategy planned out for this - despite the fact he wouldn’t have to run far to get out of the alley, he felt pinned down. He didn’t want to give them his back, it was just asking for trouble.

“We represent Niflheim.” Liam spoke clearly and with none of the indecision that had been permeating through the alley.

But those were exactly the words Hanzo _didn’t_ want to hear. The Shimada clan was picky on who they allied with and Niflheim was _not_ on that list. Nor did Hanzo think they would _ever_ be on that list. They wanted nothing to do with groups like Niflheim, ones that talked of ‘dividing to see reality’ and things like that. They wanted nothing to do with groups that threatened harm to those under Shimada protection or groups that caused unnecessary harm. The Shimada had _standards._ They weren’t going to ally with a glorified terror cell.

“We are done speaking.” Hanzo took a step away from everyone. This was the right course of action, he knew it was. There was a tiny voice in the back of his mind suggesting hearing them out if only for information gathering. But at the same time, the whole situation made him want to get away as fast as possible.

“Hear us out, little dragon.” Alisa called after him, her tone as sweet and alluring as poisoned chocolate.

“No thanks.” Hanzo took another step away. He froze when he heard the all-too-familiar click of a pistol being cocked. Hanzo glanced back over to them and saw Noel aiming a gun at Hanzo’s stomach. Completely unwavering. He swallowed dryly and turned to face them with his hands up. “Then say your piece already so I can leave.”

Alisa chuckled and ran a hand through her short cropped hair, a smirk on her face. “It really is simple. We need your help, little dragon.”

_That’s absolutely ridiculous. I can’t think of any reasons for them needing_ **_my_ ** _help. Or my clan’s help!_ Hanzo furrowed his brows and sighed internally. _Outside of financial backing._ The mere idea of them needing his help was troubling and only made him want to leave even more. “Elaborate.”

Another pause, a hesitation. One that made Hanzo even more apprehensive.

“Niflheim holds the belief that our reality is comprised of two worlds…” Alisa set her hands on her hips and had a look on her face that dared Hanzo to tell her she was wrong. “And that humanity as a whole is weaker because of it...we want to restore the worlds to their natural order.”

_Restore the worlds to their natural order…?_ Hanzo really didn’t like the sound of that. It just _screamed_ ‘bad idea.’ Despite his misgivings and growing fear, Hanzo kept his expression calm and collected.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “And how do I play into this?”

“We’ve had a little bit of success...but we’ve hit a snag in the division process...see...none of us are powerful natural magic users. Noel’s got some, but not enough. We need _power_ . And we need the right _type_ of power.” Liam spoke calmly.

Hanzo felt the dragons coiling under his skin, whispering for him to get out of there. A small bit of movement at the corner of his vision pulled his focus for a split second - pale blue vapor was starting to emanate from his tattoo. Hanzo clapped a hand over his wrist as though it would actually stop what was happening (it wouldn’t).

He didn’t exactly understand what they meant, but Hanzo knew that his dragons wanted nothing to do with it. And that was enough for _him_ to say no.

“You don’t need to decide now.” Alisa grinned. “Just keep what we talked about in mind, little dragon.”

“No, I made my decision. I’m not helping you.” Hanzo spat the words out like they were poison.

Alisa laughed, the uncomfortable sound echoing through the small alleyway. “Like I said...just keep what we said in mind. We’ll be seeing you soon, little dragon.”

Hanzo stared at the three as they retreated into the shadows. Nausea was boiling in his gut and he couldn’t shake that feeling away. Blackwatch was throwing accusations at them and now Niflheim was personally trying to recruit Hanzo…

_I’m so fucking dead…_

* * *

  


With everything that had been going wrong, Hanzo just needed time to himself. He needed time away from the elders, his duties, even his brother. And that meant it was time to spend time as a dragon. _It really is bad that I’ve needed to do this so often lately…_

He understood that stress was naturally going to be higher when they were helping an international peacekeeping organization, but the Niflheim business was complicating everything. Hanzo knew he should tell someone, he knew that would be the smart thing to do. That it was important to bring everything to Blackwatch’s attention…

But he was almost _scared_ to. Hanzo didn’t like admitting to fear, but this was something that scared him a little. That...and it didn’t feel like it would actually help anything. At this point, Hanzo bringing up Niflheim would probably be seen as the Shimada clan trying to deflect attention away from them, trying to shove the blame off onto someone else.

That…

And Hanzo was sure he could handle the situation on his own.

He shook those thoughts away and shifted to his small dragon form and took flight. It felt so good to have the air sliding along his body, whipping his mane. It was wonderful, freeing. It was exactly what Hanzo needed at this point: freedom from his duties.

The sun was warm, barely a cloud in the sky. All Hanzo wanted to do was find a tree branch to laze on for the next few hours. That seemed like the best choice of plans. A couple hour long nap as a dragon. Genji might chide him for doing something so ‘boring’ for rebellion, but Hanzo was just _tired_ . He was supposed to be doing...something...for the clan. Hell, he couldn’t even remember what he was supposed to be doing at this point! _Napping so is rebellion. Stupid Sparrow._

Despite his exhaustion, Hanzo soared through the sky. He would fly until his body ached and then nap in a sunbeam. That way he got his taste of freedom and still got the rest he so desperately needed.

While Hanzo never flew too high, he loved how Hanamura looked beneath him. Even with his enhanced sight as a dragon, the details started to blend together. Like nothing mattered. Like nothing existed except color and sensation. It was peaceful. Hanzo was able to temporarily let go of himself, of his duties, of everything binding him to the world.

But like all good things, it came to an end.

Hanzo could feel his muscles aching in his back, throbbing from overuse. It was a feeling he was far too used to from the amount of training he did. _Guess that means I should rest now…_ He slowly spiraled down to a tree that was relatively close to the manor, but far enough away that he wouldn’t be spotted by anyone who was looking for him.

He sprawled out on a branch and basked in the sunlight. _This is the perfect way to spend an afternoon. No one will bother me...I can just have_ **_quiet._ **

“Well, hey there little noodle!”

Hanzo jolted at the sound of the voice and nearly fell off of his perch. _I just had to go and say that no one would find me, didn’t I?_ As much as Hanzo enjoyed Jesse’s presence, Hanzo really didn’t want to be near _anyone_ right now. Seeing Jesse reminded him of all the responsibilities he was currently shirking…

“Aw, you look real tired, little guy.” There was concern in Jesse’s voice. “Can’t blame you for nappin’ up in a tree on a sunny day like this. Sounds like a real nice time.”

Hanzo poked his head up and glanced down at the cowboy. Jesse was up on his tiptoes to try and peer up at the branch as well as him. He was smiling so bright and genuine, blindingly so. Yet at the same time, the concern was evident as well. _I must look pretty tired then…_ He offered a soft chitter in response and flumped his head down against his front feet while watching Jesse.

“Can’t help but worry a little, you’ve been real energetic the last couple times I saw ya, little noodle.” Jesse held a hand up for Hanzo to inspect. “Not used to seein’ you look so worn out.”

Hanzo butted his head against the hand and huffed. _There is no reason to worry about me, Jesse. I am just tired…_ Not that he could actually tell Jesse that, but that was beside the point. Hanzo leaned into the gentle petting that Jesse was giving him and chittered softly. It really felt nice... _Maybe having someone close isn’t a bad idea right now…_

A slight shock of electricity passed between the two, which made Hanzo squeak. Despite how quick it had been, the static continued to hang in the air. At the same time, there was an uncomfortable sensation surging through his body, like there was too much...something...in his body. Hanzo couldn’t place what, just that there was too much of it. It made his skin feel like it was too tight, like it was filled with crawling ants. He shivered and tensed as he waited for the terrible feeling to pass, but it continued.

No.

It got _worse_.

The worsening pain brought on something that felt far more familiar to Hanzo, one that he hadn’t felt since he was very young. One he desperately didn’t want to deal with at the moment: the need to shift. _No, this can’t happen now!_ Hanzo struggled to hold onto his dragon form - he didn’t want to shift in front of Jesse. He didn’t want Jesse to know that _he_ was the small dragon. He didn’t want Jesse to think he was weird for cuddling up on his lap or for leading him around on a wild goose chase or…

The feeling wasn’t going away.

Hanzo clenched his abdomen and gritted his teeth to try and stop what he knew was going to happen. _I can’t...not now…!_ He could hear Jesse speaking, he could hear the distress and panic in his voice, but Hanzo couldn’t process the words.

In his attempts to stop the transformation, Hanzo knocked himself off the branch. His shift was usually smooth and calm, this one was hurried and jerky, almost painful. He could only hear the sound of his blood rushing through his veins, could only see whiteness as he plummeted to the ground.

But he never hit the ground. No, Hanzo was cradled in Jesse’s arms as the last of his shift finished. His heart was pounding in his chest and his breath coming in ragged pants - and he knew that both of those weren’t just caused by the whole ‘falling’ thing. Though he didn’t want to admit the _other_ reason his heart was pounding...

“I’ve gotcha, li--- what the fuck?”

_Oh god just end my life now._

Hanzo didn’t dare open his eyes, he didn’t want to see how Jesse was looking at him, he didn’t want to see how weirded out he was because of well...everything. There was a lot that Jesse could be weirded out over.

“Hanzo? Are you alright…?”

_Wait...why isn’t he asking about anything else…?_ Hanzo opened one eye slowly and was greeted with Jesse’s _very_ concerned face far closer to his than he anticipated. Heat was creeping up his cheeks, but his embarrassment was far from his mind as Hanzo took in the fact that he could make out all the small details that comprised Jesse’s face once again; the shades of brown in Jesse’s eyes, that there was a small scar under his right eye and another cutting through his left eyebrow, the fact that there was stubble along his jaw and that he _still_ needed to shave…

_I really shouldn’t be staring at him..._

“...Hanzo…?”

_Right...I have to answer…_ “I am...fine.” _Of course I lie right out the gate. Good job, Shimada._

“I seriously doubt that you’re okay, darlin’.” Jesse snorted and rolled his eyes. “An’ what the hell, you’re the little noodle dragon that’s been givin’ me hell?”

_Why is he still holding me…?_

Hanzo realized that this was one of those moments that required him to speak and that he had been quiet for far too long. Yet he was having difficulty in getting his voice to work, whether that was the shock of the forced transformation or the fact that Jesse was _still holding him_ , Hanzo didn’t actually know.

“Um.” _Wow. Good job, Shimada. That was some good communication._ Hanzo exhaled slowly and tried to calm himself at least a little. Even if he was weirded out he needed to be able to communicate. “...y...yeah, that was me.” Hanzo looked away again, opting to stare off at _anything_ other than Jesse.

“Huh. That’s…”

_Why is he still holding me?!_

“That mean the little green one is Genji?”

Hanzo whipped his head back in Jesse’s direction and stared at him with wide, confused eyes. These weren’t the questions that someone should be asking after a small dragon suddenly turned into an adult man in your arms. He got that Jesse was part of an international peacekeeping organization and would be used to fairly weird things, but what just happened was pretty far off the scales of weird in Hanzo’s mind.

“...yes?” Hanzo shifted a little and felt his cheeks getting hotter. He was liking how it felt to be held so close to Jesse’s chest, he probably liked it a little too much. _Banish those thoughts...he’s a colleague and nothing more._

“Guess that explains some.” Jesse chuckled a little and smiled down at Hanzo. The warmth in that expression pierced through Hanzo’s heart like he was being shot. “You sure you’re okay? You’re real pale.”

_I really don’t know what to make of his reaction…_ Hanzo expected anger, frustration, and at the very, very least, irritation. But he wasn’t getting any of those reactions. All he was getting was concern and curiosity.

Now that he wasn’t focused so much on Jesse potentially being upset with him, he was able to feel how _awful_ his body actually felt. His body ached in way that he’d never managed to achieve from his martial arts training, it felt bone deep and inherently _wrong_. Like he was simultaneously being smashed down into oblivion and torn to shreds.

“...don’t feel that great.” Hanzo admitted after several long seconds. He usually wouldn’t admit something like that...but…he trusted Jesse.

Jesse walked the two of them over to a bench and set Hanzo down on it as gently as possible. Hanzo immediately missed being close to him, but he shoved that thought away. _Now isn’t the time…_

“How’s about we just rest here for a bit, sound good?” Jesse plunked down next to him and smiled - though concern was still evident in his warm brown eyes.

“Yes, that sounds good.” Hanzo slumped back against the bench and exhaled roughly. The weird pain wasn’t waning, but perhaps if they just sat and rest he’d figure out how to ignore it. He was silent for a few moments as he fidgeted with the cuffs of his sleeves. “...I am sorry for...um...everything…?”

It didn’t seem like the right sort of apology, but Hanzo didn’t know how to phrase it. But he was sorry for teasing Jesse in the ways he did. It wasn’t befitting of the heir to the Shimada clan…

“Huh? Oh, don’t worry about it, Han.” Hanzo’s heart fluttered at the nickname, a feeling that he was absolutely ignoring. Jesse merely grinned and chuckled. “I mean, it’s kinda a relief? Nice to know you can be silly too, ya know?”

Hanzo turned his head fast enough that his vision wobbled. Jesse couldn’t be serious, he didn’t care about how much they’d teased him?

“I mean, I’m pretty salty about the silt in my hat, but whatever.” Jesse shrugged, his smile growing more genuine and warm. “Plus...you trusted me enough to show me such a vulnerable form. Means a lot.”

* * *

  


Hanzo jolted out of a deep, sound sleep when his phone vibrated his entire pillow. He scrambled to stay on the bed, but fell to the ground in a lump of blankets with a grunt. He fumbled to get at his phone, which fell straight onto his face.

_I hate today already._

**[from: Gabriel Reyes, sent: 7:10am]** McCree and Shimada x2 - there’s a magic flare up and wind storm tearing through. Make sure civilians are secured and safe. Get moving by 7:30am.

Hanzo stared at the message for a few seconds while blinking sleep from his eyes. His initial thought was that it was too damn early to be dealing with _anything_ , but he shook that thought off rather quickly.

Father had instructed Hanzo and Genji to assist Blackwatch if they were called upon - though none of them really thought that they _would_ be called upon. After all, Blackwatch made what they thought very clear: that the Shimada clan was behind all of this nonsense. Nevermind that the Shimada clan being behind the odd crises only made sense for Hanamura and that the crises were occurring all over the planet. But here they were.

Blackwatch wanted their help.

And Hanzo intended to help them to the best of his abilities - partially so he could spend more time with Jesse and mainly to help keep his family’s name clear.

**[from: Jesse, sent: 7:15am]** meet in the courtyard, we’ll get started from there. thnx

**[from: Genji, sent: 7:17am]** got it, cowboy. see you in a minute

Hanzo sighed and rubbed at his face. It would probably be smart to respond.

**[to: Jesse, Genji, sent: 7:18am]** understood. be there soon.

He dragged himself out of his bed and grumbled at the aching pain that thrummed through his frame - it had been present since his body forced him to transform back to human in Jesse’s arms. And today it was even worse. Hanzo wondered if it was because of the magic flare-up, but couldn’t be sure. That’s what he was going to blame for now, though.

Once he was dressed, Hanzo darted out of his bedroom and out into the courtyard. The wind that assaulted him was frigid and almost felt like it was cutting into his skin like a knife. It was enough that he had to squint to see properly and even then he could feel his eyes getting dry. There were sakura blooms spiraling through the air, it was almost pretty. But the wind whipping through him and chilling him straight to the bone eliminated that thought very quickly.

“Morning Hanzo.” Jesse called, his voice barely audible over the howling wind. “We’ll get movin’ in a second. Once your brother’s with us.”

It didn’t take long for Genji to meet up with them, though Hanzo only really knew that he’d joined them because of his bright green hair. Anything less vibrant than his brother’s hair was difficult to see because of the wind.

“Alright. We’re gonna stick real close together. I’ve got earpieces for us, it’ll make it easier to communicate with each other with the wind blowing like it is.” Jesse handed off the little plastic earpieces emblazoned with a small shape that resembled a goat skull.

Hanzo rolled it in his fingers before tucking into his left ear. It wasn’t uncomfortable, honestly, he could barely feel it. He was glad of that, he didn’t want to deal with more discomfort than he was already handling.

“Can you hear me?”

He jumped a little at how clear the sound was - but was surprised at the fact that it wasn’t _too_ loud. It was perfect. “Yes, I can hear you.” Genji echoed the sentiment.

And with that, they were on their way. There wasn’t really anything they could do to stop the wind storm, that they were just going to have to wait out. But they could get civilians into safe areas and attempt to secure things down so they didn’t blow away. To Hanzo it didn’t really feel like that would be enough to really be of assistance…

But there really wasn’t much else they could do…

It took them far longer than it should have to get down to where there were actually things they could take care of. The wind was whipping hard enough that the trio had to hold onto each other to even get that far.

The issues became evident _immediately_ upon them getting there. Beyond the fact that the wind was blowing hard enough to actually cause physical harm, there was a vending machine spitting bits of magic as well as snacks. The nearby lights were sending down showers of sparks, though Hanzo couldn’t actually determine if they were magic or not. It was hard to tell without getting closer and he wasn’t entirely sure he _wanted_ to get close. He didn’t fancy the idea of being shocked.

Though they did need to fix everything…

“Okay, Genji, gonna have you start working on that vending machine. See if we can get it to stop assaultin’ us with snacks.” Jesse rubbed at his face and sighed. “...though I kinda want to keep some, I haven’t eaten yet.”

Hanzo figured that Jesse was putting Genji in charge of the vending machine because he didn’t want to be pelted by snacks. Honestly, Hanzo would probably do the same. But that might just be because he’d want to see his younger brother dance around while dodging Pocky.

He paused for a minute when he thought he heard a soft whimper and he set his hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “Wait a second...don’t you hear that?”

“Sorry, all I hear outside of you guys is ‘whoosh.’” Genji muttered. “What do you hear?”

Hanzo wasn’t entirely sure. But he knew he heard _something_ . He started walking in the direction of the whimpering and started moving _faster_ when the sounds got louder.

“Hey, hold up!” Jesse sounded more than a little exasperated, but Hanzo ignored him.

It didn’t take him too long to find the source - three little kids. Two boys and a girl. They were hiding behind a bench to try and keep out of the wind and away from the haywire electronics, though they weren’t exactly out of danger. There were chunks of debris bowling down the street, some big enough that Hanzo was concerned that _he_ would get hurt. They’d definitely do damage to a little kid…

“Hey, I’ve got three civilians here, all kids. Taking the earpiece out for a second.” Hanzo murmured as he squatted down to greet the three. He plucked the comms device out of his ear so he could talk to the kids unhindered and smiled at the kids. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m going to get you somewhere safe, okay?”

The three looked at him in a mixture of fear and awe - and seemed unable to form words at the moment. Hanzo couldn’t blame them. The wind was scary...and magic going weird was frightening as well. He supposed it likely wasn’t comforting to have the heir to the yakuza group that took residence in town to be offering to take you somewhere safe…

He offered his hand to one of them and exhaled when one of them took his hand without hesitation. _Thank goodness…_ “Alright...I’m going to move all three of you at once, okay?” Only once he got a nod from the kids did he put the earpiece back in. And was greeted to very loud scolding.

_I’m tempted to just take it back out again…_

“Seriously, I get ya the damn thing so we can keep in contact and you take the thing out?? What the fuck, Hanzo?”

_Very seriously tempting to take it back out._

“Hush. I’ll be on my way back in a moment.” Hanzo rolled his eyes as he started arranging the three kids - one on his back, piggyback style - the other two in his arms. “Isn’t our first assignment making sure civilians are safe?”

Hanzo didn’t get a response to that. He hadn’t really expected to get one.

It wasn’t easy to get moving with three kids on him _and_ the wind blowing like it was, but Hanzo managed it. Somehow. Thankfully, Jesse and Genji weren’t nagging at him while he was moving either - he figured that they caught on that he needed to concentrate. He wasn’t entirely sure how long it took. It felt like it an eternity, though. Eventually, Hanzo could see two figures that he hoped were Genji and Jesse. He was panting as he came to a stop in front of them.

“Please tell me you found a safe spot.” Hanzo shifted one of the kids in his arms and shot them a knowing look.

“Yeah, c’mon. Let’s get these guys inside.” Jesse motioned for Hanzo to follow.

Hanzo was honestly glad that Jesse and Genji found somewhere safe for citizens. Admittedly, it hadn’t been smart to go and grab the kids before they had a safe house for everyone, but Hanzo wanted to get them out of danger. Once they were inside, Hanzo set the kids down carefully and chattered with them for a few minutes to figure out who their parents were. That way when the wind storm died down he would be able to get them home without issue.

With the kids taken care of, Hanzo exhaled and prepared to go back outside. His face felt raw and sore from the wind, but there was still work to be done.

“Hey, just a sec, Hanzo.” Jesse tapped his shoulder, his expression a bit conflicted. “Look, sorry I went off on you ‘bout going off on your own. Was just worried is all.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Honestly didn’t expect you to get the kids to come with you.”

Hanzo would be offended, but he knew how he came off to other people. Cold, callous, unfeeling, a real bastard. He merely shrugged in response. “I have a younger brother, it’s not like I haven’t dealt with kids before.”

“Huh.” Jesse hummed, his face thoughtful. “Guess I didn’t consider that. Full of surprises, ain’tcha?”

Hanzo offered up another shrug. “So it seems. There is much to be done, Jesse. We should get back to work.”

Jesse merely laughed, patted Hanzo’s shoulder, and then walked back out into the wind storm. Hanzo was frozen in spot for a moment, his hand drifting up to the spot that Jesse touched. It felt strangely warm and tingly in a _very_ distracting way. _Now isn’t the time_.

He exhaled and straightened up. Back to work.

* * *

  


Between getting civilians to safety, dealing with everything going haywire from the magical flare-up, and _cleaning_ up everything from the wind storm, Hanzo was absolutely exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep for the foreseeable future. It had taken all of Hanzo’s composure and strength to make it to his bed before passing out - and he’d let himself indulge in sleeping in for once. He hated mornings with every fiber of his being, but he usually dragged himself out of bed because that was what was expected of him as the young master of the Shimada clan.

Today was a different story.

Hanzo kept his head tucked under the pillow and his body burrowed in blankets. It felt like he’d been hit by a truck several times. Staying in bed for the whole day seemed like a perfectly reasonable way to rest up.

He was drifting off again when he heard a knock at his door. Hanzo groaned and held onto the sides of his pillow tightly. _I really don’t want to get up…_ But it wouldn’t be right for him to ignore whoever was at the door at this time of day.

Reluctantly, Hanzo dragged himself out of his nest of blankets and shuffled over to the sliding door. He opened it just enough to see who was out there. _A servant…?_

The young woman bowed deeply. “Young master, you have a guest. He is in the courtyard.”

_A guest…?_ Hanzo blinked a few times before he realized that he needed to respond. He inclined his head slightly and straightened back up. “Thank you for informing me, please let my guest know that I will require a few minutes to get ready.”

The young woman nodded her understanding and then was gone. Hanzo rubbed at his face and drudged over to get dressed. The last thing he wanted to do was entertain company, but he couldn’t exactly _not_ see whoever had come to see him. It wouldn’t reflect well on the Shimada family. He just wished that the young woman had told him who his guest was so he could mentally prepare himself a bit.

Getting dressed didn't take Hanzo all that long, nor did his personal grooming routine. For as much shit as Genji gave him over how ‘slow’ he was in the morning, he actually moved fairly quickly when things came down to it. Once he was as presentable as he could be, Hanzo made his way to the courtyard.

His mind flitted through all the possibilities for guests, but his mind was drawing a blank. Hanzo couldn't think of any family connections that were in Hanamura at this point in time, nor could he think of reasons for them to be in this area. But the servants knew exactly how exhausted Hanzo was, they wouldn't allow just anyone to actually visit him when he was in this state. The guest was either someone that Hanzo was fond of or was an influential family connection. He knew which one he would rather deal with, but the people he was fond of were few and far between. Hanzo supposed that he would not have to wait long for an answer, he was almost to the courtyard.

Despite the devastating windstorm, the courtyard was still pristine and beautiful. Hanzo knew that people had worked hard to restore it to its glory and it definitely paid off. The only real sign that something happened was that there was less sakura than usual.

Hanzo's gaze flitted through the courtyard before settling on a lone, tall figure.

It was Jesse.

Of all the people that Hanzo expected, Jesse was not among them. Part because Jesse was bound to be just as exhausted as Hanzo and part because there was no business to draw him in. _He’s stopped by on his day off before though…_

Hanzo shook all of those thoughts away, straightened up his posture, and approached Jesse with confidence and poise. “Hello Jesse. What brings you by today?”

_I sound so stiff...why am I sounding so stiff…?_ Right. Because he was being the young master that the elders wanted him to be, not himself.

“No need to be so formal, Han.” Jesse’s smile was soft and genuine and it was only then that Hanzo realized that Jesse wasn’t wearing his hat. The nickname pierced into Hanzo’s heart and left him feeling all fluttery and special. “Jus’ wanted to talk, you know?”

_He wanted to come and see me…?_ Hanzo felt a tiny bit of heat creeping up his cheeks and, again, shook away thoughts that were forming. Ones that might lead him to believe that they were anything other than colleagues. Maybe friends. Nothing more.

“I think I understand.” Hanzo tried to soften his posture, to get a softer smile on his face as well. He wasn’t entirely sure how effective his attempts were. He motioned for Jesse to walk with him, it just felt more natural to be walking while they talked. “Are you doing well? That last mission was…”

Rough. That was the only word that Hanzo could find to describe it.

“Ah, I’m doin’ okay, thanks for asking.” Jesse flashed him a bright smile that Hanzo was certain made him feel as warm as the actual sun did. “Maybe a little tired, but that’s pretty normal, I think. You look pretty tired though.”

_Yes, because I was sleeping when you got there._ Though Hanzo wasn’t about to actually _admit_ that. It was a bit late in the day for someone of his age and status to be sleeping.

“I am a bit worn, yes.” Hanzo rubbed at the back of his neck as they walked through the courtyard. _I’m still being too stiff…_ “But after all we did, I think we have the right to be tired.” A little bit of a laugh managed to make it into his tone, but his _nervousness_ was coming through the most.

“Fair point.” Jesse nodded. “Like I said, I’m a bit tired too. But damn were you something else out there. I mean...I’m used to guys questioning my judgment cuz I’m kinda uh...young...you know? But you actually got me to think about it an’, yeah, you were right. First duty was to civilians.”

Hanzo was impressed that Jesse was admitting that - maybe he was used to men who weren’t able to admit when they made a mistake, or when they were wrong. It’s what went through Hanzo’s mind though, that their duty was to civilians. He wasn’t about to risk the lives of the people in the city his family protected. And to find out that they were _children_ to boot… “Fixing all the items that were overloaded with magic was definitely important, but if there were people still potentially in danger, it is not worth it.”

“And really...I’m impressed that you were so good with those kids. They were afraid of me!”

The indignance in Jesse’s voice was more than a little amusing to Hanzo, but he managed to keep from laughing. “As I said, I am an older brother...I am used to handling kids.” And on top of that, sometimes Hanzo taught the martial arts classes at the local dojo. Teaching classes was something his father set up when Hanzo was younger - it helped him come out of his shell a bit more and get used to _leading_ people. A method of training him to be the master of the Shimada clan that wasn’t as boring or detestable as what the elders put him through. “And, to be fair, they do not know you. You’re just a very tall, strange man in a funny hat.”

“The hat is cool.”

This time, Hanzo wasn’t able to hold back his laughter. Sure, the hat was stylish and perhaps even cool, but it was Jesse’s insistence that it was cool that made him laugh. _He is ridiculous…_ “I am not saying it isn’t.” Hanzo brought his hand to cover his mouth and attempt to hide the fact that he snickered. “Just that the children might find it weird and funny.”

“Feelin’ a bit called out here.” Jesse groused, his mouth twisted into a pout. “But uh...I kinda wanted to ask you something. Might be readin’ too much into things...but…”

_Wait...he wants to ask me something…?_ Hanzo tilted his head slightly as he regarded Jesse. “Go ahead and ask.”

But Jesse didn’t speak right away.

Hanzo could feel anxiety building up at the silence, but he tried to ignore that. There was no reason to be anxious, but he knew that anxiety didn’t exactly listen to that sort of fact. Anxiety just happened. _stupid fucking anxiety…_

“Well. Again, might be readin’ too much into things...but...maybe you’d like to go out on a date at some point?”

Hanzo’s brain froze. That wasn’t the question he expected. _A date? Jesse wants to go on a date with me? But...why? I’m…_ He could feel his cheeks getting hot and his heart starting to pound. It was just hard to wrap his mind around the fact that Jesse wanted to take him out on a date…

But then his mind drifted to the fact that he had cuddled up with Jesse as a dragon, in his smallest, most vulnerable form. That Jesse had sought him out on his day off before…

Hanzo cleared his throat and tucked his head down to hide the flustered blush that was spreading across his cheeks. There was a small voice in the back of his mind remind him that perhaps it was not appropriate for him to go on a date with someone he worked with. Hanzo was also inclined to tell that voice to fuck off. “I think that would be most enjoyable, Jesse.”

Jesse’s face broke into a blinding smile and he rested his hand against Hanzo’s shoulder. “I’m real glad, darlin’.”

The pet name did nothing to slow Hanzo’s heartbeat or ease the flush on his cheeks, if anything, it made them worse. But he didn’t care about how red his face was or anything like that. Because he was going to be going on a date. Perhaps it wasn’t in the best taste to go out on a date when there were things like magical flare-ups going on, but just because the world was falling to pieces didn’t mean that Hanzo had to deny himself things that might make him happy.

And a date would certainly make him happy.


	5. Chapter 5

Jesse’s heart was trying to escape his chest, he was certain of it. He knew it was his own fault, that he put himself into this situation, but he was still having trouble getting himself to calm down. Part of it was nerves, the other part was _excitement_. After all, he was going on a date.  And it was totally normal to be nervous before a date. Especially when your date was gorgeous and capable of killing you with his pinky.

It wasn’t Jesse’s first date ever, but it wasn’t like running with Deadlock as a teenager had given him ample opportunities for _normal_ dating. This was probably as close to a normal date as he was going to get.

As much as he’d wanted to make it a fancy dress date, Jesse didn’t exactly have that kind of clothing with him. So they were going with casual. He didn’t think the ‘punky cowboy’ look he’d rocked in Deadlock was particularly bad...it just didn’t really feel like _date_ material.

But it was what he had with him, so he would deal.

“Huh, didn’t expect to see you out of your pajamas on your day off, vaquero. Where are you headed?”

Jesse damn near jumped out of his skin when he heard Gabe’s voice. He whirled around with a weak laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck. _I swear that man has fucking eyes in the back of his head…_ “Ah...um…” He swallowed dryly when he finally got a look at Gabe’s face - at the _knowing_ smirk and expectant expression plastered to his face. “...goin’ on a date…”

Jesse knew that telling Gabe about the date _earlier_ would have been the ideal thing, but well, here he was. He couldn’t exactly change the past. He supposed it was better to level with Gabe before he was out and about. It would be _bad_ for Gabe to find out after the fact. At least this way he would be able to plan for any potential fallout.

“So, which Shimada brother caught your eye?” Gabe’s expression was getting more and more amused and Jesse definitely didn’t appreciate it.

Jesse felt his cheeks getting red. He crossed his arms over his chest and pointedly looked anywhere _but_ at Gabe. “...Hanzo. He’s real nice…” He still didn’t look over at Gabe, partially because he knew he was blushing even more now.

“Look. I’m not gonna stop you, Jesse. Just don’t get us in trouble with daddy Shimada and we’re golden. Got it?” Gabe shrugged. “I trust you. Now go have fun.”

Honestly, he hadn’t really expected things to go that smoothly. Though Jesse _did_ wonder what exactly would get them in trouble with Sojiro Shimada. _Hopefully going on a date isn’t one of the things that’ll get us in trouble…_ But he wasn’t going to think about that too long. He had a bit of a one mind track going on at the moment. “Thanks Gabe, see you later!”

With that, Jesse darted out of the hotel room and started for the Shimada mansion. He was picking up Hanzo at the gate - and then they were going out for hibachi (though honestly Jesse had considered ramen...it just didn’t seem nice enough, though). He continuously went through the opening conversation to their date in his head, he wanted it to be perfect. He didn’t want to fuck this up somehow (less so because of international relations and more so because, well, he liked Hanzo). _I’m probably overthinking this…_

It didn’t take him particularly long to get to the Shimada mansion, it never took near as long as he thought it would take. It was both a blessing and a curse - there was part of Jesse that wanted more time to think things through, but he knew if he had that time he’d just continue to overthink everything.

Jesse’s thoughts came to a grinding halt when he saw Hanzo leaning against the gate, part from nerves, part from just how _nice_ Hanzo looked. Somehow his mind had filled in that Hanzo would be dressed all refined and fancy - maybe it was because of how formal he was a lot of the time… But Hanzo was dressed in torn black jeans, a blue tank top, and a beaten up black leather jacket that had an intricate dragon design on it. There was the thought that Hanzo might be borrowing clothing from Genji, but that thought vanished when he realized the dragon design was _blue_ . _He looks fucking gorgeous..._

He quietly reminded himself that he needed to actually go up to Hanzo and get things started - not just sit there and stare at his date because he was beautiful. Jesse cleared his throat and walked up with a soft smile on his face. “Evening, Hanzo. You look _great_.”

Really, that wasn’t the right word to describe how Hanzo looked, but Jesse didn’t want to come off as _weird_. Or say the wrong thing.

Maybe he was still overthinking things.

“Hello Jesse.” Hanzo returned the smile as he straightened up from the wall, tossed his loose ponytail over his shoulder, and adjusted his clothing. “You look very nice as well. Are you ready?”

_At least I won’t look out of place with what I’m wearing. If Hanzo’s dressed this way too, it’s totally okay_. “Yeah, I’m all set. Let’s head out.”

Jesse felt the nerves from earlier surge up again as they walked down the street. He’d never felt so out of sorts on a date before, maybe it was because it had been awhile for him…

Or maybe it was because he liked Hanzo a lot more than he liked the people he ‘dated’ before getting to Blackwatch.

“You are quiet, cowboy.”

Jesse’s heart fluttered at that nickname and he tried to hide the fact that he was starting to blush because of it. Usually he didn’t like being called ‘cowboy’ since people tended to mock him. But coming from Hanzo…? It didn’t feel mocking. It felt...warm.

“Just happy to be out with you.” He smiled again and nudged Hanzo with his shoulder. “And curious to see where we’re headin’. Gabe an’ I haven’t found a hibachi place yet.”

Hanzo’s cheeks went a bit pink at the nudge and Jesse thought it made him even more beautiful. “Ah...you wouldn’t have been able to find this place…” Jesse watched his expression morph into something a bit more sheepish. “This is a place my mother used to take Genji and I. It is smaller...a bit off the beaten path. Not really a place that gets suggested to foreigners.”

_Somewhere his mom took him and Genji…_ Jesse bit his lower lip at that and glanced down at the ground. He wasn’t sure he could articulate how much it meant that Hanzo was sharing something like this with him. Maybe it was because Jesse was a mama’s boy at heart, maybe it was because he could relate to not having your mother around anymore; he wasn’t actually sure. _Why_ it meant a lot to him didn’t matter, just the fact that it did.

“Real flattered that you’d take me somewhere special like that.” Jesse flashed a smile in Hanzo’s direction. “I appreciate it, means a lot to me.” It didn’t seem like enough to state it so plainly, but he wasn’t sure what he could say instead.

The smile he got in response to what he said was so bright it damn near blinded him and made him go all weak in the knees. Jesse wanted to see Hanzo smile like that again and again...he’d do anything to see it again.

The hibachi place was exactly as Hanzo described - off the beaten path and rather small. Not the ostentatious place you might expect a family like the Shimada to eat dinner at, just a nice little family joint. The atmosphere was a lot like Rikimaru, actually. Everyone greeted Hanzo warmly, everyone seemed to know him. But not like the folks that were just being nice because of Hanzo’s status. These people were joking with him, teasing him - at least from what Jesse could make out. His Japanese still wasn’t that great. These people knew _Hanzo_ not the Shimada heir.

Jesse figured that Hanzo was getting a bit of shit about bringing a foreigner here, or maybe because they were on a date? Who knew. But Hanzo was smiling as he spoke with them, his face animated and emotive. Jesse couldn’t really help but stare.

Soon enough they were seated at a secluded table near the back of the restaurant and drinks were ordered. Jesse looked down at the menu and realized that it was completely in Japanese with no helpful pictures and he felt his smile wilt just a little.

“Hey Han...mind helpin’ me pick something out? I can’t read the menu…”

Hanzo sidled up next to him, close enough that Jesse could feel the heat radiating off of his body. His throat went dry and his pulse picked up ever so slightly. _Bit ridiculous to be getting like this over nothing…_

“Two options.” There was a tiny, mischievous smile dancing on his face. “I can help you pick something...or you can trust me and I’ll order for both of us.”

“...there ain’t raw fish here, right?” Even after Gabe dragged him to a sushi place, Jesse was more than a little wary. That’s what happened when you grew up in a desert clime and then ran with a gang for years. Eating raw fish there would have led to a date with the porcelain god.

Though he did want to trust Hanzo - he wanted to see what Hanzo ordered for the two of them.

“No raw fish, I promise.” Hanzo chuckled - the sound was low and brought warmth to Jesse’s face. “So...will you trust me?”

_Hell, I’d trust him with way more than ordering dinner_.

“Of course.” Jesse bumped his shoulder against Hanzo’s. _I really like being close to him…_ “I know you won’t steer me wrong.”

Jesse thought the pinkness that spread across Hanzo’s cheeks was adorable, but the little smile on his face was even better in his opinion. He watched intently as Hanzo ordered - taking in how much his face lit up, the wide smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes...it really was nice to see him so at ease. He did balk a little when Hanzo introduced him to one of the owners. Jesse managed to muster his best Japanese to greet him and say thank you.

That was about the extent of his abilities. While Gabe said Jesse was good with languages, Jesse hadn’t really _tried_ to learn Japanese before the mission. There hadn’t really been enough time. But it _was_ nice to actually make use of what he did manage to learn before the mission started.

Dinner was brought out a bit after Hanzo ordered and was utterly delicious. If this is the type of thing Hanzo ordered for himself and dates, Jesse would gladly defer to him in the future. _Am I planning more dates…? Whoops._ Conversation flowed naturally throughout dinner - the two chattering happily about marksmanship, mobile games, even caring for animals. Each topic only made Jesse like Hanzo even more, especially when he got sight of that soft, relaxed smile. Even more so when Hanzo’s mischievous smile made itself known.

“So...whatcha want to do after this?” Jesse finished off the last of his steak and rice. He hadn’t really put much thought into what they’d do _after_ dinner...but he sure as hell didn’t want the date to end.

“Hm...I have a few things in mind.” Hanzo hummed before taking a sip of his drink. There was a tiny smirk gracing his face and Jesse found that it made his heart pound in a _decidely_ pleasant way.

“Oh? Care to elaborate?” Jesse quirked a brow up and rested his chin against his hand.

“No, it is a secret.” Hanzo set his glass down and continued smirking.

_That smirk is going to be the end of me._

“Well, guess I’ll just have to wait and find out then.”

The check arrived a moment later and Jesse reached out to snatch it away only to find Hanzo’s hand there too. Their eyes met a second later and Jesse tried to tighten his grip on it. They hadn’t exactly decided who would be paying for dinner.

Oops.

“I can pay, it is not a problem.” Hanzo tried to tug it closer to him.

“But I asked you out.” Jesse shot what he hoped was a puppy dog pout in Hanzo’s direction. “Ain’t proper for you to pay when this was my idea.”

Hanzo hummed and shook his head. It seemed that the puppy dog pout had not effect on him. “I picked the restaurant, please, allow me to pay.”

_This isn’t going anywhere._ It wouldn’t do any good if they just kept arguing over who got to pay. “How’s about we split the bill?” That way they both got to contribute - that seemed pretty fair for a first date.

Hanzo seemed to be considering that and eventually nodded. “That is acceptable.”

Jesse exhaled - he was glad that it was okay with Hanzo. He didn’t mind another guy paying for him, not in the least, but he _was_ the one who had asked Hanzo out. It only seemed right that he at least help pay for everything.

With the bill settled, the two started making their way out of the restaurant. The owners stopped Hanzo again and chattered a little bit. While Jesse couldn’t really understand what was being said, he understood the basic parts. _Come back soon, it was nice meeting your friend_. Jesse mustered his meager Japanese again and managed to thank them for the meal, as well as saying it was nice to meet them.

Once they were outside, quietness fell between the two of them. The sun was hanging low in the sky, casting red and orange light over everything. It was beautiful - the sky looked like it was on fire. Jesse let his fingers brush against Hanzo’s hand before carefully taking it into his.

“Dinner was incredible, Han. Thanks for sharing it with me…” Again, Jesse wasn’t sure how to explain how much it really meant to him - he’d settle for holding Hanzo’s hand for the moment. “So...what did you have planned for after dinner, or is it still a secret?”

Hanzo fixed him a heated stare before grabbing the front of Jesse’s shirt and tugging him in close. Jesse’s heart pounded in his chest and he felt a silly grin spread across his face. Before he had a chance to really react more than that, Hanzo was leaning in and pressing their lips together.

The contact was electric, nearly paralyzing, and Jesse _loved_ it. He hooked an arm around Hanzo’s waist and held him close to his chest, his other hand moved to card through the loose strands of his hair. He wanted this single moment to keep stretching on forever, only able to focus on the sensations that were shared between the two of them. Hanzo’s lips were soft and insistent, unhurried.

Hanzo finally broke the kiss, only pulling back a scarce inch. “...does that answer your question, cowboy?”

_Hell yeah that answers my question!_

“Hm, might need to hear that again just to be certain.” Jesse teased as he leaned in to give him a chaste peck on the lips.

“Well...why don’t you come with me…?” Hanzo took his hand and squeezed it. While the words were confident, Jesse noted the tiny bit of apprehension on his face.

“Sounds perfect…” Jesse let himself be led off with a silly grin on his face.

_Best first date ever._

* * *

  


Jesse wasn’t really able to hide the glowing grin on his face the next day. He couldn’t help it, he was damn pleased with how the date went and with what happened after dinner. Especially pleased with how everything went after dinner. Really, he was happiest about getting close to Hanzo...that they both felt the same way.

He couldn’t wait until they went on their second date.

But Jesse was currently stuck in a meeting with Gabe, Jack, and Ana and it was boring and he hated it. It was hard enough to focus on these meetings when his mind wasn’t full of memories of Hanzo kissing him, among everything else they’d done. But now that he had those images in his head, he wasn’t really absorbing anything that was being said. At all.

He knew he should be paying attention, but well, that so wasn’t happening.

“McCree! Look alive, stop daydreaming.” Jack barked through the hologram.

Jesse squawked as he tumbled off of his chair and hit the ground with a resounding thwack. Everything was silent after that - they were clearly waiting for him to give an indication that he was okay before they busted out laughing. He didn’t _think_ anything was hurt other than his pride, but he still took an extra second in getting up. Only once he was partially back into his chair did the three of them start laughing.

Really, he couldn’t blame them. It was hilarious.

“Sorry. I’m awake now.” Jesse mumbled as he settled back in on his chair. He couldn’t quite look at the hologram at the moment, he didn’t want to see how much they were laughing.

“Are you alright?” Ana asked, there was only a hint of laughter in her voice. “That was a rather hard fall.”

“Yeah, ‘m fine.” Jesse waved his hand. “Don’t worry ‘bout me.”

They seemed to accept that, which Jesse was more than grateful for. He didn’t really want to linger on the fact that he’d fallen flat on his ass during a meeting. _Maybe I’ll just think of last night...that’ll ease the embarrassment a little…_

“As we were saying, it does not seem you are making as much progress as you were before.” Ana sighed. “And while what you are doing is honorable and helpful, it is not standard for Blackwatch to be assigned to that sort of duty.”

_Wait...what’s Ana getting at…?_

“I get it. There something goin’ on somewhere else that we need to take care of?” Gabe stretched as he spoke - his tone nonchalant.

_Wait...no…_

Jesse didn’t want to believe it - they couldn’t be suggesting that they just...leave. They didn’t know what was causing everything, these people were in danger, _Hanzo_ was in danger…!

“Not yet.” Jack sounded exasperated. “But I want you back here so we can deploy Blackwatch when we need them. It doesn’t do Overwatch any good when the leader of their black-ops division is off on a mission.”

_Maybe...I can convince them that I can stay here…?_ Jack and Ana were talking about _Gabe_ going back to base. It wasn’t like Jesse was high ranking in Blackwatch. He could totally handle the mission here…

“Aren’t you guys concerned that this could be Niflheim?” Jesse was surprised by the words that left his mouth - yeah, he was included in the meeting, but it wasn’t like he usually contributed to them. He’d talk when he was asked to, but that was about it. He was still learning the way things worked at Overwatch and he was still a bit uncertain about speaking up against his bosses. It was hard to break the anxiety that he would get in trouble for talking back that Deadlock instilled in him.

“Yes, we are concerned that it could be.” Ana admitted, but sighed a moment later. “But there are no concrete leads that it _is_ Niflheim. We cannot keep you out there indefinitely until there _is_ a lead.”

_That’s a fair point…_ Overwatch was wasting resources by keeping them in Japan. Hotels weren’t cheap, food wasn’t cheap, and the commander of Blackwatch was often out of reach. That wasn’t good…

“I guess...but…” Jesse rubbed the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t feel good leavin’ everyone here when there’s been so many incidents…”

_Especially_ since the incidents were getting worse - at least that’s how it felt to Jesse. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt because they left…

“I understand that.” Ana exhaled audibly. “But we need to consider that Hanamura isn’t where we need to be looking at this moment in time.”

Jesse nodded his understanding and went silent. He understood, he really did. That didn’t make it any easier to hear. He understood that his job meant that he might need to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice...but he was really hoping that they got to stick around in Hanamura longer…

Gabe groaned and kicked his feet up on the table. “Look. I get you need us back at base just in case - but I’m going to argue for a bit more time on this.” Jesse perked up a little and looked over at Gabe. The man’s expression was unreadable, serious. “Jesse has a point. This could be Niflheim and I’d kick myself if we withdrew too early and people got hurt.”

_Guess it’s nice to know that I’m not talking out my ass…?_

An awkward silence permeated through the room, interrupted only by the sound of Jesse’s heel bouncing on the ground and soft breathing.

“Gabe...none of us feel good about the decision to withdraw, especially when nothing is resolved.” Jack finally broke the silence. “But we can’t keep you deployed when nothing is getting done.”

Jesse would argue that they were getting _some_ things done, but they were kind of stuck on where to go with things. They were reacting to what happened, but they didn’t have leads…

If it were any other mission, Jesse wouldn’t be arguing. He knew that.

He was being selfish.

But he didn’t really care...

“Something doesn’t feel right here, Jackie.” Gabe’s chair creaked as he leaned back in it. “I really think we should stick around a little more…”

Jack sighed in exasperation and then the four were silent for several moments. But Jesse thought Gabe was right - there wasn’t something right here. And he would be thinking that even if he wasn’t smitten with Hanzo. Even if they were struggling to make heads or tails of everything, there was _something_ wrong here.

“You have one more week to get the ball rolling, otherwise we’re recalling you.” Jack grunted out the words in a tone that Jesse knew meant there was no arguing. This was what would happen.

“Got it Jackie, thanks.” Gabe gave him a little salute. “We done here?”

Jesse hoped that they were done, he didn’t want to keep talking about how he only had one more week in Hanamura. He wanted to go out and _do_ something - either find a lead or spend time with Hanzo. Maybe both.

It didn’t help that he wasn’t really a fan of these meetings to start with.

“Yes, you are dismissed. One week.” Jack gritted out the words. “Good luck.”

The hologram vanished a second later and Jesse slumped in his chair. He wasn’t able to keep the sour expression off of his face. _I don’t like this situation…_

“Ease up, vaquero. We’ve got a week.” Gabe shot him a meaningful look - one that told Jesse that he was well aware of what was causing his sourness. “We’ll figure it out.”

_I really hope so…_

* * *

  


Jesse and Gabe were on their way over to the Shimada manor to discuss the little time they had left in their investigation - and how they wanted to proceed. As important as it was, Jesse was dreading the discussion because he didn’t really want to admit that they had so little time left.

But he had to. He couldn’t keep it quiet, that wasn’t fair to Hanzo. Or anyone.

There was cold wind blowing through the streets - Jesse hated it. He was never fond of the cold, especially when he was in a bad mood. And his mood wasn’t exactly _good_ right now.

Part of him wanted to draw out the walk to the manor - but that just seemed like a recipe for sadness. Jesse didn’t need to be any more angsty than he already was - he was already getting eye rolls from Gabe every few feet. He knew he was being ridiculous and pretty immature...but he couldn’t help it. He was disappointed that they were going to be leaving.

Soon enough, the towering doors of the Shimada manor were looming before them. The sight of them made it feel like ice was sliding down into his stomach, a shiver ran down his spine. _Something feels off…._

Jesse shook the thoughts off as they made their way into the manor. The courtyard was abandoned, petals from the sakura trees fluttering across the ground harmlessly. And it was nearly silent. Everything just felt _off_. Almost like he was in a dream, but also not. It unnerved him and he was having trouble shaking the feeling…

“Sorry! I’m a little late, sorry!” Genji ran up, his hands resting on his hips as he panted to catch his breath. “I hope you were not waiting too long…”

Jesse was about to answer when he realized that Hanzo wasn’t with Genji and all words died on his tongue. From what he learned while in Hanamura, he knew Hanzo was usually the one who was there first - even if they were meeting at the asscrack of dawn. He made it a point to get there before Genji. Jesse wasn’t entirely sure, but it was something he accepted about Hanzo. He _had_ to beat his brother in that respect.

“We weren’t waiting very long.” Gabe cleared his throat. “Where’s your brother? He was supposed to meet us as well.”

So Gabe noticed it too…

“Ah…?” Genji looked around and finally realized that Hanzo wasn’t there with them. His brows knitted together and concern creased his face. _Genji being worried doesn’t exactly make me feel better about this…_ “I saw him earlier today...I think he was going down to the dojo to train for a bit…”

There were unsaid words there, ones Jesse could hear loud and clear - _Hanzo should be back by now._

“We’ll give him a few minutes.” Gabe said after a moment of silence. “Maybe he got caught up with his training.”

Jesse could see that happening. Hanzo definitely seemed lost in his training when Jesse spied on him. It seemed reasonable enough to make the leap that Hanzo could still be training - yet at the same time there was the thought nagging in the back of his mind that they should be out _looking_ for Hanzo. That something was _wrong_ . While it wasn’t a surefire thing, going with his gut instincts was often _right_.

“Got it, _jefe_.” Jesse leaned against a wall and sighed.

A few minutes turned into a half hour, which then turned into nearly an hour. No signs of Hanzo. The longer they sat there, the more Jesse felt like something was seriously wrong. It just kept digging into the back of his mind, a mantra that kept repeating over and over. _Something is wrong, something is wrong, something is wrong…_

More telling was how anxious _Genji_ looked. Jesse watched him climb a wall, walk around in a handstand, practice backflips, pull out his phone and play a mobile game - all in the span that they were waiting. One could attribute that to a general jittery behavior, but this felt _different_.

“Alright. Jesse, Genji, I want you to go and check the dojo to see if Hanzo is still there. I’m going to go and talk to Sojiro about all this. Maybe he has Hanzo doing something right now…” Gabe shooed Jesse and Genji off.

Jesse followed after Genji, who paused just shy of running up a wall - seemingly remembering that he had someone with him who was incapable of climbing walls like that. “This way…”

It was weird to see Genji so unnaturally quiet and subdued. It made everything feel even _worse_. Even when they were doing clean up after a crisis, Genji managed to be smiley and upbeat. He managed to be cheerful and sunny at way too early in the morning. Genji being subdued just felt like a bad omen.

“...what time did Hanzo go to start training?” Jesse didn’t like how his voice sounded, all soft and worried and sad...it just cemented how bad the situation was.

Genji stopped in his tracks, his head hanging down slightly. He let out a weak laugh. “I was hoping you would not ask that, cowboy.”

_Oh hell_. “What do you mean?” There was that nervous laugh again and Jesse felt his proverbial hackles go up. _Why doesn’t he want to say…_?

“See...Hanzo started training around 10:30 this morning.”

Jesse scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket. He didn’t actually know what time it was - but his mind was supplying _much later than 10:30 in the morning._ He unlocked the device and felt his heart sink at the numbers the screen was displaying. 14:05. Sure, there was a chance that Hanzo could still be training...but it was a slim one. Four hours of training was a _huge_ amount of training…

“...I take it he usually doesn’t do four hour training sessions?” Jesse rubbed at his face and tried to keep as calm as possible. Freaking out wasn’t going to do anything, he needed to keep a cool head…

“Ah..no.” Genji shuffled and kicked at the ground. “Maybe when he’s practicing archery...but he knew we had a meeting with you and Reyes. He wouldn’t forget about that. He sets timers on his phone so he doesn’t get carried away...”

Jesse’s mind immediately jumped to some very dark places - but he shook the thoughts off. _No, I need to stay positive and keep a cool head. I need to be able to think_. It was just harder to keep that way when he was emotionally invested…

“Okay...let’s go check the dojo like Gabe wants us to...and uh...I guess...ask some people if they saw Hanzo leave the dojo. And _when_ he left.” That way they could start to gauge _when_ everything went down...that was _if_ anything went down.

The trip to the dojo was made in complete silence, which left Jesse with his own thoughts for far too long. Thoughts that someone hurt Hanzo, or kidnapped him, or any number of _bad_ things. _But Hanzo’s strong...he wouldn’t go down without a fight...right?_

It didn’t take long for Jesse and Genji to search through the dojo. It was very evident once they got into the building that Hanzo wasn’t there. The only person around said he stopped training around 12:30 and left maybe five minutes later. Their source didn’t have any real idea _where_ Hanzo was headed, but made the assumption that he headed home to get cleaned up. The businesses near the dojo corroborated that Hanzo left around 12:35 and appeared to be going toward the Shimada manor.

That’s all the information they had.

That’s all they had to go on.

Jesse didn’t want to go back to Gabe with so little information, but they didn’t really have a choice. They needed to check in so the situation could be assessed.

“I don’t get it…” Genji’s voice was soft when he spoke. “Hanzo wouldn’t just leave. That’s not how he is…” He let out another weak laugh. “...and he’s too attached to you to just _leave_.”

Jesse felt his cheeks heat up at that revelation, but tried to hide it by tucking his hat down a little. “You’re right...he doesn’t seem the sort to run away.” _He’s attached to me...I really like how that sounds…_ Granted, Jesse knew _he_ was attached to _Hanzo_. “...I don’t really like the other options though…”

_I don’t want to think that someone could kidnap him so easily…_

“I don’t either.” Genji sounded like he was _ignoring_ the possibility that his brother had been taken.

Silence fell between them once again and stayed that way until they were back at the manor. By the time they made it back, both Gabe and Sojiro were standing in the courtyard, both with grim expressions on their faces. _That doesn’t bode well…_

“Jesse, report.” Gabe barked out the words in a tone that was far too reminiscent of both Jack Morrison and the men who ran Deadlock.

Jesse couldn’t help but flinch a little. He watched a regretful expression flit over Gabe’s face, but it was gone as fast as it appeared. Jesse exhaled slowly and straightened up to a more acceptable posture for someone in Blackwatch. “Hanzo left the dojo around 12:35, looked like he was heading this way - the businesses in the area confirmed this. I was gonna ask the guards ‘round here if Hanzo made it back home.”

He watched disappointment play across Gabe’s face - he’d clearly been hoping for more information. It’s not like they hadn’t tried, honestly, _Jesse_ wanted more information too. This was all they were able to find though.

“‘bout what I expected, kinda hoped for better.” Gabe sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “He didn’t make it back here.”

“And I did not send him out to do anything this morning or afternoon.” Sojiro’s face was tight, yet somehow still calm. But to Jesse, it very much looked like he was trying to keep everything in. Like there was rage boiling just below the surface. “My son would not just leave…”

The pain in his voice was unsurprising. His eldest son was missing and they had almost no information to go on.

The sound of a chime rang out from Sojiro’s person made all four pause. Jesse watched the man pull a cell phone out of a pocket with a very carefully controlled expression on his face. “...it’s from Hanzo…” His voice wavered and he closed his eyes. “...he’s been taken…”

_No, that can’t be right…_ Jesse didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want Hanzo to be taken, he didn’t want to believe that someone as _skilled_ as Hanzo could be kidnapped while walking home.

“...is it a message from him?” Gabe took a step closer to Sojiro - Jesse could see his brows knitting together. “And how can you be sure?”

Sojiro held the message out for everyone to see. It was in English, which was a little surprising to Jesse.

**[from: Hanzo, 14:45]** taken on way home. the dragon hungers

Jesse tilted his head at the last three words. They didn’t really make sense, was that just a Shimada family saying or something?

“What does the last part mean?” Thankfully, Gabe was asking for him - Jesse would have felt a bit silly doing so. He knew he shouldn’t, but...well...old habits die hard.

“A code phrase that my sons are to use if they are in danger and unable to do anything about it.” Sojiro’s voice was calm and icy. “I will begin searching for his cellphone’s location.”

Jesse could only stare numbly as Gabe and Sojiro made plans on how to handle this situation. Hanzo was kidnapped. Hanzo was in danger. His stomach twisted in a way that made him feel like he was going to spew his breakfast everywhere.

“But...what do we do now?” Jesse finally managed to say something. Surely they weren’t going to sit here and doing _nothing_ . There had to be _something_ they could do.

“We need more information before we can act. We have no idea where the kidnappers took him.” Gabe responded in an even, clipped voice. One that Jesse knew meant he was stressed. “Acting now would be rash and accomplish _nothing_.”

_But...how can we just sit here doing nothing??_ “...are you kidding me?” Jesse was speaking before he realized it. “We’re just gonna let them get more distance? They probably already destroyed his phone!”

Jesse could say with absolute certainty that if Deadlock was doing a kidnapping, a person’s cellphone would be one of the higher priorities. Cellphones could be tracked and that was the last thing you wanted to deal with when you were taking a hostage. The fact that Hanzo was able to send them a message _at all_ was remarkable.

“McCree, stand down.” Gabe barked the words out.

“No, he is right.” Genji finally spoke again - and it was so different than his usual chirpy tone that it sent a shiver down his spine. “Kidnappers will have destroyed his phone. The longer we wait, the less chance we have of finding him because of the sheer amount of distance.”

_And the possibility that they might just kill him…_

That thought stabbed through the heart - Jesse didn’t want to contemplate the fact that Hanzo might die. That he might not see him again…

_I can’t just sit here and let those assholes hurt him…_

“And what exactly do you expect to do?” Gabe was glaring now - Jesse knew he was in deep shit. “You have no leads.”

“Sure as hell gonna do more than just _sitting and waiting_.” Jesse growled out the words as his hands clenched into fists. He knew he was just digging himself further into the hole at this point, but his mouth was running already and there was no stopping it. “How can you even suggest doing nothing??”

Gabe straightened up to his full height - which admittedly wasn’t a huge difference from Jesse’s own height, but he _remembered_ how much Gabe towered over him when he came to Blackwatch. But he wasn’t going to back down. Jesse tilted his chin up and scowled at his commanding officer.

“You will stay put and do as you’re told, McCree.” Gabe was speaking quietly and in a tone that made it feel like Jesse had been thrown into a frozen pond. “That’s an order.”

With that, Sojiro and Gabe swept away from Jesse and Genji, presumably to start planning their rescue of Hanzo. Jesse stared at their retreating backs until they entered the manor, even then, his eyes were fixed in that position for several long seconds.

“Are they fucking kidding me?” Genji snarled as he started pacing through the courtyard. “They expect me to sit here and do nothing while my older brother is held captive and potentially being hurt?”

Jesse was about to say something when Genji stormed over to the wall and  punched. He swore he heard the wood crack from the force of the punch. His eyes were wide as he watched Genji shake out his hand like he was trying to get a bit of dust off of himself.

“...and he orders me to do nothing…” Jesse crossed his arms tigh over his chest and gritted his teeth. “If we wait he ain’t gonna make it…” It was a terrible thing to say, Jesse knew it was. But it was something that he feared could genuinely happen...

“Fuck it, I’m going after him. I don’t care what they say.” Genji finally looked over to Jesse again. The raw _anger_ in his eyes was damn near terrifying, enough to send a shiver down Jesse’s spine. “I’m not letting my older brother get hurt or worse just because it will be _difficult_ to find him.”

His determination really was admirable, at least Jesse thought so. Apprehension flooded his body - the idea of going against Gabe’s orders was, well, scary. Jesse didn’t exactly have good experiences from the few times he went against orders at Deadlock.

But…

This was important…

“We’re doin’ this together. We’ll get him back.” Jesse held his hand out to Genji. A sign of solidarity, friendship, promise. So many unspoken things. “Okay? We’re gonna get him back.”

Jesse sounded confident, he just wished he felt as confident as he sounded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: kidnapping, torture, psychological torture, blood.

What Hanzo needed most before the meeting with Blackwatch was a good amount of training. He’d woken up with a terrible feeling hanging over him, one that he hadn’t been able to shake even after having a bit of breakfast and showering and various other things. Clearly the only solution was to go down to the dojo and train until it felt like he was going to pass out. Sure, he might not have as much mental clarity during the actual meeting, but it was a risk that Hanzo was willing to take if it meant he might feel _a little_ less...whatever he was feeling.

It was something he did often - sneaking down to the dojo and working out or helping out until the chaos in his mind was quelled. It was surprisingly effective, at least for him.

Hanzo was lucky, there weren’t any classes running, so he was free to run through an intense program without people staring at him like he was some sort of freak. If he was fair, the workout he did when he was alone _was_ a bit on the intense side. No, he knew it was beyond intense, but he loved it.

It was just what he needed.

After a quick conversation with the owner of the dojo and many thanks being said, Hanzo was able to have the training floor all to himself for a couple hours. All he had to do was trade a few hours of helping out in classes, which was something he already enjoyed doing. One learned the most when they were teaching...and it was _nice_ to help out others like that.

It was one of the few places that Hanzo felt relaxed.

Having done a morning run for his real warm up, Hanzo was able to start fairly quickly and worked his way through several kata, going through them at slow rate with extremely deep stances. Then stretches, and then striking practice as well as shadowboxing. He went through the whole thing three times - kata, stretches, striking, and shadowboxing - until his muscles felt like they were on fire. He would have gone through another time, but he still needed to get home, shower, _and_ get something more in his stomach lest Genji accuse him of being ‘hangry.’

Hanzo sighed as he walked out onto the street - it was chilly and the fact that he was sweaty from training didn’t help that. Thankfully, it wasn’t a long walk home and soon enough he could throw himself into the shower and be _clean_.

Thankfully, he felt a little better than he did earlier. It felt less like there was a guillotine hanging above him in the sky.

“Little dragon, it’s good to see you again.” The unfortunately familiar voice of Alisa Ward issued from behind Hanzo.

He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes for several seconds to try and keep his temper in check - running into the representatives from Niflheim was one of the last things he wanted to deal with today. Or most days. “I do not believe I can return the sentiment.”

Hanzo slowly turned around and was surprised to see a fourth person with Alisa, Noel, and Liam. Another woman - this one taller than him with pale skin, long brown hair, and a grim smile on her face. But what caught him off guard was the _feeling_ that was radiating off of her. Power. The dragons were stirring under his skin, spurred to life by the magic hanging in the air. _This isn’t good...I’m tired from training and there are four of them…_

He looked around the area quickly, trying to find _some_ escape from the situation. But nothing was jumping out. Hanzo was just far enough from home that yelling would do nothing, his cellphone was in reach but if he went for it he wasn’t entirely sure what they’d do. The dragons hummed under his skin, reminding him that he _could_ be rid of the issue quickly.

But that didn’t feel like the right use of his abilities…

“A shame, little dragon.” Liam hummed. “Looks like you can tell that Phaedra has magical abilities, just like you do. Are you frightened?”

Honestly? Hanzo was a little afraid, but he wasn’t about to admit that. But he doubted that Phaedra’s abilities were _exactly_ like his. “What do you want?” There was a tiny tremor in his voice, but otherwise he was hiding his fear.

“We already told you that.” Alisa sighed dramatically, her arms held out in a shrug. “We need your help.” The friendly expression went a little darker, downright malevolent. “And we’ll be getting your help whether you’re willing or not.”

Hanzo slid into a defensive stance without even realizing it. There was blue, vaporous light emanating faintly from his tattoo and he suspected it was trailing from his left eye as well. He was in danger, the dragons knew that and would always protect him. If they were going to be attempting to take him by force, they were going to have to fight him. He wasn’t going to just let himself be taken.

“Damn, Aubrey was right.” Liam’s eyes were wide, almost a bit frightened. “Can you feel that?”

_Good. They should be frightened._

“Yeah. I can. Neither of us have magic and we can feel that...that’s insane.” Alisa smirked. “Go on, Phaedra. Let’s bring him back with us.”

The terrible gut feeling from earlier in the day returned tenfold, but Hanzo stood his ground. He wasn’t going to back down. He wasn’t going down without a fight. _If I fight...someone might hear and be able to stop this…_

Phaedra started advancing slowly, with a single hand extended. Hanzo stared at the hand as dark whirled and circled along the palm. It was almost hypnotic - at least until he saw the blue light getting pulled into the darkness. _Is that a black hole??_ Hanzo couldn’t actually tell, but it was certainly acting like something _similar_ to a black hole… It maybe it was all in his head, but it felt like something was sapping his energy…

“Just give up, little dragon.” Alisa sang out the words. “You’re in over your head.”

_I really am, but I’m not giving up!_ Hanzo grit his teeth and pulled his left hand back like he was preparing to punch. It was so much harder to do it like this, it was so much harder to summon his dragons without something for them to ride on, but he would do it. As much as he’d been against it not even minutes earlier, now Hanzo was all for it. He could feel them snarling under his skin, ready to defend him from threats. He wasn’t able to bite out words, just a silent prayer that this _actually work_. He punched with his left arm and held his breath and waited.

_Please…_

_Please just work..._

The twin dragons burst from the end of his fist, roaring toward those who dared threaten him. Hanzo sagged with relief as he watched them continue hurtling toward his enemies - he wasn’t sure he was actually up to summoning them. At least not like _this_.

But the screams he expected never came.

Hanzo’s eyes went wide as he watched Phaedra hold her hand up, her other hand clutching her wrist. The black hole or whatever it actually was - it was dragging in his spirit dragons. Eating them. They were being devoured instead of tearing down his foes.

“No...what...why…” He held tight to his left arm, fingers running along the tattoo. He relaxed slightly when he could feel his dragons under his skin - there had been a moment of genuine terror that his spirit dragons might be gone forever. _What would I do without them…?_ Yet at the same time, it felt like his body was made of lead and his vision was wobbling. “What’s going on…?”

Phaedra closed the distance and put her hand against Hanzo’s forehead. Her eyes were glowing blue, a very familiar one, the blue of his dragons. “Sorry, this will hurt.” Her voice was softer than Hanzo expected, almost gentle, as was her hand against his forehead. For a second, Hanzo didn’t think anything was going to happen - but then there was a flash of bright, blue light.

It felt like every ounce of energy that was sapped from him was being shoved back in all at once. Hanzo gasped, but no sound left him, it was like every muscle in his body was paralyzed as well as full of glass. His vision fuzzed out and he felt himself starting to lose consciousness.

_Shift...I need to shift…_

Hanzo tried to focus on his small dragon form, but thinking hurt, focusing hurt, everything hurt. He could barely _breathe_.

_Please...I need to shift…_

The world was going grey around the edges and he collapsed to his knees. Hanzo tried to speak, tried to do _anything_ , but he couldn’t.

_Please…_

* * *

 

Hanzo jumped as he woke, a hiss leaving him as pain flared across his skull. He flailed and yelped as he fell off of the cot he had been sprawled on. He hit the ground hard and closed his eyes as he tried to get his bearings - he needed to stay calm. If he freaked out he wouldn’t be able to get anything done, or figure anything out.

He exhaled slowly and sat up - it hurt to do so, but Hanzo pushed through the pain. He’d take the inevitable lecture from his father - _pushing through pain can result in lasting injury_ and all that jazz.

He looked around the room he was in - utilitarian, more like a prison cell than anything. There just weren’t bars. The door looked fairly heavy and was made of some sort of metal. It wasn’t something he was going to be breaking down without severely hurting himself. No windows, just a square, grey room.

Hanzo hated it.

He immediately felt in his pockets and felt his cellphone resting in his right one. _Wait, they seriously didn’t take that away from me?_ That was one of the first things Hanzo would have done. He would have taken a captive’s mode of communication with the outside world. The last thing he wanted while he was running an interrogation or something like that was for an enemy group to come storming in because he forgot to take someone’s _cellphone_.

_Well, best be taking advantage of that fuck up…_

**[to: Father, sent: 2:45pm]** taken on way home. the dragon hungers

Hanzo sent it before he could second guess himself and then closed his eyes. There. Now his father was informed that he was in trouble and didn’t have a way out yet. That put him a little more at ease, even if he knew it would take time for them to coordinate efforts. He’d just have to hold out for a bit. He could be patient for a little bit, he’d just have to put on the Shimada heir act.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door shrieked to life. Hanzo fumbled his phone and tried to shove it into his pocket. He was supposed to follow up the first text message with more details on the situation - like _who_ kidnapped him. But he’d let himself get distracted…

But an open door meant a chance for escape, and if not escape, at least figuring out where the hell he was and if escape on his own was actually possible. They didn’t have Hanzo bound and while he was in a bit of pain, he was willing to push himself if it meant actually escaping.

Hanzo shifted so he could spring into action and waited for the door to open entirely. He slowed his breathing down and watched the door with an unblinking stare. _Just a little more...almost there…_

The door opened and Hanzo launched himself at whoever had the misfortune of being sent to check on him. He would feel bad for attacking without knowing who opened the door, but Niflheim should have prepared for the chance of this happening. He slammed his knees into the hapless person’s chest, more like a wrecking ball than a man for a moment.

He didn’t even pause to check who he plowed over, Hanzo broke into a run. His eyes darted around the hallway he found himself in. It was just as bleak as the cell - he hated how everything looked the same. Hanzo knew it was likely a purposeful choice to make things confusing to outsiders - to make it so they couldn’t find anything important. Also so they couldn’t escape.

But Hanzo wasn’t going to let that get him down. He wasn’t sure if he would get another chance after this, so he needed to take it. _Not going to have much time…_

So far he wasn’t running into anyone, which had apprehension prickling down Hanzo’s spine. He knew they would notice he wasn’t in his cell soon - in fact, he was surprised they _hadn’t_ noticed that yet. He could say with certainty that if someone broke out of their cell in one of the Shimada owned buildings that people would be on them as soon as possible.

Hanzo turned down another hallway with gritted teeth. _I hate how everything looks the same! I have no idea if I’ve already been here…_

“Ah, you must be Hanzo Shimada…” An unfamiliar voice called out from behind him, one that sent a chill through his body. Hanzo froze in his tracks and straightened out of his running position.

“I am, yes.” He tried to turn his head so he could peer over his shoulder - he didn’t like having an unknown behind him. It made him tense and Hanzo knew that tension in a fight was a recipe for disaster.

“I did not expect to meet you so soon.” The voice sounded closer now, which only made Hanzo _more_ nervous. “I take it you are trying to escape?”

_I don’t like how calm this guy is…_ Hanzo slowly turned his head so he could actually see the person who was behind him. The speaker was a man who was a few inches taller than Hanzo with black hair and tanned skin. He was of average build and wore a serene expression despite the fact that he was dealing with an escaping prisoner.

“...and what was your first guess?” Hanzo deadpanned. He probably shouldn’t be all ‘sarcasm mode activated,’ but he was _annoyed_ and wanted to go home. He very carefully positioned his feet in a way that looked natural and normal - but was actually him getting ready to strike if need be.

The man laughed, light and amused, and shook his head. “You are a spitfire, just like Alisa said.” He hummed and took a step closer.

Hanzo couldn’t help but take a step away. He wanted to stand his ground, but there was something about this man that made Hanzo’s skin crawl. He wanted as much distance between them as possible - preferably something to the tune of a continent. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t run. There was part of him that was frozen.

“Who are you?” Hanzo glanced around in hopes of miraculously seeing an exit this time, but nothing was sticking out.

“My name is Aubrey Sebile, I am one of the leaders of Niflheim.”

_Wait, how is he the leader of this? I’ve never heard of him…_ Hanzo felt his heart start beating a little faster, nerves coiling in his stomach. He wasn’t used to not knowing, knowledge was one of the benefits of being the heir to a yakuza organization. They tended to know who was in charge of potential threats and allies - even random members at times. Yet...Hanzo had no idea who Aubrey Sebile was. The mere idea that his father wasn’t as omniscient as he seemed was enough to make Hanzo’s stomach boil with nausea. It wasn’t that he actually believed his father knew everything, that was just foolish, but his father always knew _so much_ that it was like he knew everything.

Not knowing was frightening.

“You seem shocked.”

_That’s an understatement._ Hanzo didn’t want to admit that, though. “I have not heard of you.” Hanzo decided that _some_ honesty would be okay. “That is all.”

“That is not surprising.” Again with that cheerful, calm tone. Hanzo was starting to hate that tone. “I do not make my identity known to many.”

Hanzo bit back a remark about that making him special if only because there was a darker connotation there: _you aren’t getting away._ At least that’s how the situation felt to Hanzo - that Aubrey only revealed himself to people who were stuck with Niflheim or part of it. _It’s doing no good to just sit here and talk with him...backup will get here soon or he’ll make a move. Now I need to make a move…_

He exhaled and decided that he would go in the direction he came from - he’d rather chance running past Aubrey than giving him his back right off the bat. Hanzo waited another second and then broke into a sprint. It wasn’t the best idea, it wasn’t even a _good_ idea, but it was all Hanzo had at this point. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know where any of the exits were, and he didn’t know how many people were in Niflheim. There were far too many unknowns for him to feel remotely confident in actually escaping.

But Aubrey wasn’t reacting - at least not that Hanzo could see or hear. No yelling, no nothing. He was just standing still with that stupid calm expression on his face - like everything was going according to plan. _I want to knock that look off his face…_

Hanzo shook that thought away and kept running. Smacking Aubrey would jeopardize his escape, even if it would make him feel a little better about his shitty day. _That’s assuming I haven’t been unconscious for a long time…_ That was also something he shouldn’t be dwelling on. He could worry about how much time elapsed once he got the hell out of here.

It felt like the hallway was getting darker, gloomier. Hanzo paid it no mind, he was certain it was his mood projecting onto everything around him - with as hopeless as he felt, of course things would look darker. It made sense. He guessed. Maybe.

Each pounding step he took, the walls darkened. It seemed like shadows were oozing against them, dripping down and onto the floor - dark pools expanding toward the center of the hall. Hanzo tried to ignore it, it wasn’t real, it _couldn’t_ be real when the hallway had been dry not even two minutes earlier.

But then his foot splashed in one of the puddles and he faltered hard enough that he nearly fell on his face. Hanzo gasped and stared down at the material his foot was in and felt his brows knit together. _What’s going on? I don’t understand…_

“What the fuck…” Hanzo looked around - he was still in the hallways, but the liquid dripping down the walls was very definitely blood, he could smell it. He felt bile rise in the back of his throat and tried to push it away. He _hated_ the smell of blood, he had for years, ever since his mother’s death…

The walls were closing in, the smell of blood intensifying more and more. Hanzo froze and found it difficult to force his lungs to creep breathing when each lung of air brought the tangy, metallic scent of blood into his nose. He held a hand over his mouth and nose and tried to push on, but stepping forward nearly made him fall over from how slippery everything was.

“Why...what’s going on…” Hanzo felt his heart pounding, beating so fast it felt like a hum in his chest. “I don’t understand…”

Hanzo sank to his knees as sounds started echoing in his mind. Footsteps in familiar halls, him calling out to his mother, wondering where she was, her not responding. It was all repeating in his mind and he couldn’t stop it. He closed his eyes and tried to bring his focus to _anything_ but his mother’s death - he tried to distract himself with getting out of this hellhole, but nothing was deterring the images and sounds.

“...sorry...we cannot let you escape quite yet, Hanzo Shimada.” Aubrey’s voice cut through the blood and memories like a knife. “We still need your abilities.”

Hanzo closed his eyes as tears burned at the corners of them, his body slowly going lax. He was losing consciousness again.

“Why…?” Hanzo managed the word through the fog in his mind.

“You will see soon.”

Curiosity deemed that he stay awake, that Hanzo hold onto his tenuous grasp on alertness. But his body sank to the ground not even a moment later.

* * *

 

Pain flashed across Hanzo’s being as a fist slammed into his gut. Yet despite the pain, he kept quiet, only gasping slightly as the little air he was holding onto hissed out of his lungs. His arms were bound behind him in an uncomfortable way and he could feel blood trickling from his nose.

Niflheim was trying to _persuade_ him to help.

Hanzo was very determined to _not_ help them.

They still hadn’t explained much of what they were going to do to the world to him - and while he wasn’t entertaining the idea of assisting them, if he _was_ going to help, he wanted to know _what_ they were doing. Hanzo would want to know the potential side effects, he would want to have a vague idea of how this would actually impact the world.

_And if they wanted to scare me into doing something for them, hitting me isn’t going to be enough._

“You are very stubborn, little dragon.” Alisa sighed as she leaned back against the wall while gazing at Hanzo. “It would be easier for you to just help us.”

Hanzo was absolutely certain of that - that it would be far easier to just help Niflheim. But he had absolutely no intention of doing that. “I do not help when I do not understand the method or outcome.” It was the most he had said since the impromptu ‘convincing’ session had started. _They should just call it what it is, this is a torture session..._

Silence fell through the room and Hanzo wondered if saying that had been a poor life choice. It wasn’t like he could take that back and he was genuinely curious as to what Niflheim wanted to accomplish. Rather, he wanted to better understand. He knew that Niflheim was renowned for their ‘split reality’ mindset, and that they had already explained to him that they wanted to use him to split the worlds’ back to the original state - but he didn’t understand how that worked.

Hanzo wasn’t sure how his dragons could accomplish that.

“We’ve already told you...we want to split the worlds apart, to their natural state.” Liam rolled his eyes and took a step closer fast enough that Hanzo actually flinched. “As for what happens after that…” He shrugged.

It was what Hanzo feared. They didn’t actually know what was going to happen if the worlds were split apart. But Hanzo’s dragons kept urging him that it was a _bad_ idea. And that was the gut feeling he got too - that everything about the idea of splitting things was _terrible_. “What’s wrong with the worlds staying together?”

It seemed like a natural question to Hanzo. If the worlds had merged together in the first place, there was probably a reason. Something symbiotic or whatever. _If they’ve merged together, there’s a_ **_reason_ ** _they’ve merged together, right?_ At least that seemed right to Hanzo.

“Don’t you think your world deserves to stand on its own?” Aubrey approached slowly, steadily. Hanzo jutted his chin out and gritted his teeth - he wouldn’t show how much Aubrey actually frightened him. “Don’t you wish to see what you life would be like if your world was as it should be?”

_But who says that my world_ ** _isn’t_** _as it should be?_ Just because Niflheim disagreed with two worlds combining into one didn’t mean that they were correct. It just meant that they held a different opinion - one that wasn’t backed up with facts yet. Just pure opinion.

“I don’t even know if you’re telling the truth about there being two worlds that merged together.” Hanzo glared at them. “I have no reason to believe you about anything. For all I know, you’re just trying to get me to do something that only helps your organization.”

Hanzo didn’t even see Noel move. All he registered was very sudden pain flaring through his abdomen and _then_ the fact that someone had moved. His muscles tensed and shook as what felt like electricity coursed through his body. His mouth was open, trying to scream, but no sound left him. As quickly as it started, it was gone. Hanzo panted as the jolts tapered off and tried to get his body to relax.

“I think you’ll find that disrespecting Aubrey in front of Noel will result in unpleasantness.” Alisa snickered as she continued leaning against the wall. “Best be remembering that before you speak.”

Hanzo bared his teeth, but said nothing. He should have realized that speaking like that would get him in trouble - he knew it would get him in trouble back home.

“We have science to back up the two worlds merged together, Hanzo.” Aubrey hummed as he walked around the room at a leisurely pace, arms drawn out in a dramatic gesture. “There are two very distinctly different types of energy that permeate our world - I am sure you have noticed them. They are in everything, everyone.”

He nodded; Hanzo had noticed that, but Aubrey was wrong - there were three different types. There was a third that was a blend of the first two, one that was difficult to distinguish from the others, but still different. But he supposed that it would be a poor life choice to actually bring that up - everyone around here seemed far too twitchy. _I don’t exactly want to experience that electric thing again…_

“Those different energies are from the two different worlds.” Aubrey explained in a way that made Hanzo feel like he was stupid. “It is only natural to want your world to stand on its own. Especially as the two different energies are rather volatile when combined. What do you think is causing the natural disasters?”

Hanzo opened his mouth to respond, but all words died on his tongue when Aubrey claimed that the worlds being combined was what was causing all the crises. That was an example of correlation not causation. Again, he decided it was better to keep that detail to himself.

“So...we strive to end the disasters by returning the worlds to their natural state.” Aubrey stood in front of Hanzo with his hands spread out. “And that is where you come in, Hanzo Shimada.” He paused again and Hanzo was certain it was for dramatic effect. “It takes a very specific sort of magic to do what we need done...and your clan is definitely one of the ones who does. It took us so long to figure it out, so long trying to force the worlds apart with minimal success and the answer was so simple...”

The dragons stirred under Hanzo’s skin, growling their displeasure at the idea of being _used_ . But the fact that it was a specific _sort_ of magic that was needed made Hanzo pause. His dragons _devoured_ his enemies, they hunted energy, he knew they did. Nausea twisted in his stomach as his mind jumped to conclusions - whatever they wanted him to do wasn’t going to end well for the world.

“...and what do you hope to accomplish with my dragons?” Hanzo’s voice was stiff, formal, hiding his fear and anger.

“There is energy that binds the worlds together. Your dragons will devour that energy and split the worlds without issue.” Aubrey spoke as though he was speaking about the weather, not potentially damning _billions_ of people.

“I won’t do it.” Hanzo snarled as he tried to fight his way out of the way he was bound. “I refuse. What about the people who have a mix of both types of energy? What happens to them?” They didn’t belong fully to either world...and who said that the worlds would divide evenly. There was no way to predict what would actually happen. Hanzo wouldn’t put those people at risk, he wouldn’t potentially _murder_ millions of people.

An eerie, uncomfortable silence filled the room. Hanzo was doing his best to ignore it so he could try and free his hands. Free hands meant being able to fight and utilize his abilities.

“And who said you have a choice in helping?” Aubrey’s voice was no longer calm and cheerful, it had taken on a cold, unfeeling tone that sent shivers down Hanzo’s spine. Even with the apprehension that was permeating the room, Hanzo noticed that Aubrey didn’t answer his question. “You _will_ do this.”

The room started darkening again and Hanzo’s nose was assaulted with the scent of blood. But at least Hanzo was _prepared_ for it this time. He knew - vaguely - what Aubrey was capable of. Hanzo closed his eyes and tried to keep himself centered, there wasn’t much else he could do at this point. The tension in the room was getting worse, stifling, nearly suffocating. It just felt _wrong_ . The feeling was something familiar to Hanzo, but he couldn’t quite place _how_ it was familiar.

“I won’t.” Hanzo hissed the words out. He hated the scent of blood, it always shoved him back into that memory. Now was no different. But he held gritted his teeth and held fast. He wriggled his wrists to try and get them loose - anything to get away from here.

But before he could try to wrench his arms free, a rumble passed through the building. One that shook the floors, the walls, everything. Hanzo tensed and looked around wildly. The darkness that was clouding the room dissipated immediately, as did the scent of blood. _That means I can assume that Aubrey didn’t do this…_

Another shake so hard it seemed to rattle the walls - this one hard enough to send Hanzo and his chair clattering to the ground, the chair breaking away into pieces. He yelped in pain, but found that he was able to move his arms now. He got to his feet shakily and stretched his hands out. His eyes settled on the others in the room: Aubrey, Alisa, Noel, and Liam. Not the odds he wanted to deal with when he was tired and off-balance. His dragons were whispering under his skin again, wanting to help him get free, wanting to help him get _home_.

Hanzo drew his arm back and hoped that he was alert enough to summon his dragons again. He prayed internally and thrust his hand forward, the twin blue dragons spiraling from his palm as another rumble passed through the room - this one knocked Hanzo off his feet. But his dragons were tearing toward his enemies. For a moment, it looked like Aubrey was grinning triumphantly, like things were going according to plan - at least Hanzo could rest easy that his dragons would do their duty.

But they vanished.

They were simply gone. Not the usual fade away that they usually did...but...gone. Hanzo could still feel them within him, but the physical manifestation…

Gone.

Just like with Phaedra when they'd kidnapped him.

“What??” Hanzo stared at the space they had taken up not five minutes before. “...I...what?!”

Hanzo’s indignance was interrupted as he was grabbed and dragged over to a door frame. _why didn’t they work? what’s going on?_


	7. Chapter 7

It was by sheer luck that Jesse and Genji managed to find a lead as to where Hanzo was taken. But Jesse was grateful for that bit of luck. It meant that they were able to get moving so much faster than Blackwatch and the rest of the Shimada clan. Time was of the essence, after all. Jesse was just glad they were still in Japan - he was pretty sure that Gabe would actually kill him if he left the country without authorization. 

He was surprised that the facility that they wound up at was mainly underground. Though, he supposed he  _ shouldn’t _ actually be that surprised. Jesse was fairly sure that Niflheim was - in a mythological sense - the mist realm that sometimes overlapped with Niflhel and Hel. He supposed  _ underground _ made sense - but he also figured that this was the only place they could secure and that the layout didnt matter near as much as he was thinking it did. Though, only partially underground. There were a few floors above the ground as well.

In all actuality, they weren’t even that far from Hanamura. Jesse could make the assumption that they weren’t entirely sure how long Hanzo would remain pliant for transfer - so they were limited to areas that were fairly close to Hanamura for hiding out and accomplishing what they wanted to do. At least until they could move to another facility.

Getting into the facility was what was making Jesse worry. He didn’t have Blackwatch’s firepower backing him up and while he was plenty good at sneaking into places unnoticed, this was a different sort of situation. It was only him and Genji...and they didn’t really have any ideas about the amount of people or supplies or  _ anything _ on the inside of the facility.

Going in was a really bad idea.

Going in was the only way to get Hanzo back.

They were going in. There wasn’t any other choice.

“Any ideas, Genji?” Jesse murmured as he scanned the building for some sort of  _ not _ obvious entrance. Nothing was really sticking out.  _ Of course they manage to get a good fucking building for hiding out. Fuckers. _

“...our best bet might be that side entrance we found earlier…” Genji’s tone indicated that he didn’t really  _ like _ that idea, but would accept it was potentially their only way to actually save Hanzo.

Jesse wasn’t particularly fond of that idea either, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“Yeah, agreed. Guess we might as well get started.”

Jesse motioned for Genji to follow him but froze when he felt the ground shake beneath his feet. He caught his balance on a nearby tree and glanced over to Genji with wide eyes.  _ An earthquake?! _ The last thing he wanted to be doing during an earthquake was storming an underground base. It was just asking to be crushed… He knew that mankind didn’t have any way to actually detect if there were earthquakes coming, he knew that Japan had a lot of earthquakes, that it was part of their history. But...the timing of this just felt like it dealt with the weird stuff going on...

“Hanzo!” Genji’s voice cracked as he bolted for the side door without another thought. 

Jesse only hesitated for a second - they needed to get Hanzo out of there. They couldn’t let Niflheim keep him hostage nor could they let him get injured in the earthquake. He ran after Genji and grabbed his arm to slow him down. Getting separated was just going to get one or both of them hurt.

“We stick together, got it?” Jesse was surprised that his voice was even when he spoke. He sounded calm and in control, which was about the exact opposite of what he felt. His heart was racing and his mind practically spinning with the amount of thoughts rushing through it.

For a second, it looked like Genji might deck him, but the younger Shimada relented and nodded a moment later. Jesse was grateful for that. Working together meant that they had a better chance of this succeeding…

They stopped at the door, Jesse balking when he realized the locks were all electric and he wouldn’t be able to pick them the old fashioned way. But Genji started work on it a second later, his expression almost bored as he did so. Jesse wasn’t sure how he did it, but the locks disengaged quickly and they were able to make their way into the building.

Everything looked the same. Dull, drab hallways with harsh overhead lighting. Doors were lining both sides of the hall and each door was exactly the same size as the one next to it and across from it. But Jesse was used to this kind of design, it was the sort that Blackwatch used to confuse outsiders so they wouldn’t be able to go snooping around. He grinned to himself and grabbed the permanent marker he always had in his pack and drew a rough circle on the wall. This way they would know where they had been. This way they could progress easier.

The ground kept shaking, there was almost always a tiny bit of tremor going on, but it would rumble up to the point that both Jesse and Genji were sent sprawling to the ground. Thankfully, it seemed that the building was sturdy and that they weren’t underground yet.  That didn’t stop Jesse anxiety from spiking every few moments or the nasty thoughts that kept circling through his mind.  _ What if we don’t make it in time…? _ Jesse shook the thought away and kept powering forward. Thus far, none of the rooms gave any indication that there was anyone on this base. They hadn’t run into  _ anyone _ yet. It was creeping Jesse out more than he wanted to admit.

The sound of voices made Jesse stop in his tracks and he grabbed Genji’s shoulder to stop him from darting off. When Genji turned and was about to open his mouth, Jesse pressed his finger against his lips and gave him a pleading look.  _ Please stay quiet. I don’t know how many people there are...I don’t know who they are...please...stay quiet… _ Jesse’s internal pleading worked for once and Genji stayed silent.

“Case the halls, there’s a lot of ground to cover and I want to get the hell out of this building because of the earthquake.” 

The voice was familiar. All too familiar. Jesse tensed and closed his eyes for a moment. It was Gabe.  _ I’m in deep shit... _ Of course Gabe managed to catch up - after all, Jesse and Genji had spent a good amount of time choosing which entrance actually suited their needs best. Jesse tried to think of a way to get out of this, but kept drawing a blank. There was nothing the way they had come from and Jesse knew that Gabe and the Shimada men were ahead of them. They were going to have to face the music.

“Oy,  _ jefe _ , don’t bother going this way. There’s jack shit.” Jesse called out, his tone casual and confident. Like he belonged there and nothing was wrong.  _ He’s going to kill me later… _

His words were met with silence, then whispers. Not good signs. Jesse knew he was in trouble, but he just hoped Gabe didn’t send him and Genji back to Hanamura right now. 

“Good to know, McCree. Get your ass over here so you can help like you’re supposed to.” Gabe’s voice was fairly light, but that last remark had Jesse cringing. But at least they were going to be able to keep helping on the rescue mission…

Jesse motioned for Genji to follow, only for the ground to shake hard enough that he had to brace against the wall to keep from falling.  He closed his eyes and exhaled before making his way over to Gabe and the men he had with him. He was surprised that there were so many - at least ten others. They all looked vaguely familiar, Jesse realized that they were from the Shimada.  _ Of course they’re going to help recover Hanzo… _

It took him a moment to meet Gabe’s eyes - and while he clearly saw that Gabe was irritated, he didn’t seem  _ angry _ . Jesse could take solace in that, at least. He was sure he’d get reamed later on for technically going AWOL, but for now they were going to work as always.

“You two cased that hall?” Gabe was fully in commander mode. No goofing around, no smiles. Just deadly serious.

“Yessir.” Jesse nodded. “Been markin’ the wall so we know where we’ve been.” He held out his permanent marker.

For a second, Jesse saw a hint of pride sparkle in Gabe’s eyes. “Good. McCree, Genji - head down this hall. You’re working well together, I’m not inclined to break up good synergy. Put your fuckin’ comms in though. Keep us in the loop.”

“Yessir.” Jesse gave a little salute before going down the hall Gabe indicated with Genji. He couldn’t help but exhale as he pulled his comms device out of his pocket and started fiddling with it. “...damn I thought he was gonna kill me…” He laughed weakly and managed a smile for Genji.

“Me too. I am, that he’d kill  _ both _ of us. Not just you.” Genji snickered. He was also getting his comms device in. “Kinda glad to have them backing us up...this place is too quiet...makes me nervous.”

While Jesse was glad that he wasn’t the only one who was feeling uncomfortable by how quiet the facility was, it didn’t comfort him at all. Nor did the continuous tremors. It just felt like something  _ terrible _ was going to happen, that’s what his gut was screaming at him. As much as he trusted his instincts, he wanted them to be wrong. “Yeah…”

They fell silent and once again, Jesse could hear voices. The walls were thick enough that he couldn’t determine exactly what was being said...or where it was coming from. But it had to be close if he could hear it, right? Even with everything muffled, the voices were heated.

He tapped his comms device and then whispered. “We may have them here,  _ jefe _ . Will let you kn--”

All at once, everything felt  _ wrong _ . It was like static was running down Jesse’s spine and he could hear his comm device fuzzing out as Gabe tried to ask what was going on. He shivered and glanced over to check on Genji, who looked downright panicked. Almost frightened, even.

“Hanzo…thats Hanzo!” He whispered before tearing off toward one of the doors and wrenching it open.  

Jesse was still for a second longer as the words sank in - that the static hanging in the air was  _ Hanzo _ . It didn’t make sense…  _ Or is that his magic energy or whatever…? _ He shook his head and broke into a sprint in the direction Genji went - he couldn’t let Gengi go in there alone!

The ground lurched violently as Jesse ran into the room and he found himself, yet again, on the ground. He skidded a few feet and groaned as a chair toppled into him. He tapped his comms device. “Commander Reyes, got him in the fifth room on the left down the hall you sent us. At least four unfriendlies, maybe more. Requesting backup now.”

The room was loud - Jesse could see that there were at least six other people in the room, including Genji and apparently Hanzo. Though he couldn’t ascertain which one was Hanzo, not yet at least. 

“Roger that, backup is on its way, McCree. Update if situation changes.” 

With that, Jesse got to his feet, only to have to immediately dodge a punch from a slight young woman with dark skin and black hair. He was thankful that he had muscle memory for dodging - years of being with Deadlock made you get good at learning how to navigate chaotic bar fights. With as the amount of thoughts that plagued his mind on a daily basis, Jesse’s mind was surprisingly quiet during fights. It was like every distraction fuzzed away and he could just focus on what was before him. He blocked the next hit and countered with a strike to the girl’s floating ribs - enough to hurt her but not break anything.

“Jesse!” 

Hanzo’s voice cut through all the focus that built in Jesse’s mind and he glanced away from the girl he was fighting. Hanzo - who looked distressed but not particularly harmed - was pinned in a doorframe by a tall man with the palest skin that Jesse had ever seen. Genji was fighting a person with brown hair and tan skin and was average in every physical aspect. What was disturbing was that Genji was almost  _ struggling _ to keep up. 

Jesse’s thoughts were interrupted as stars erupted across his vision. “Motherfuck!” He glared down at the girl who was shaking her hand out.  _ Serves her right for punching me in the fucking face. _ He needed to finish this fight and get over to Hanzo --

Another person ran in, a pale woman with long brown hair, her expression panicked. “Aubrey! Blackwatch is here.”

“Disengage, we’re leaving now.” Another man - presumably Aubrey - ordered.

Jesse took advantage of the confusion and darted past the girl and rushed over to Hanzo. “I’m here, Han, it’s gonna be okay.” He grabbed the pale man’s arm and tried to yank him away from Hanzo. The man was stronger than Jesse anticipated. 

“Leave him!” Aubrey bellowed over the noise. “We don’t need Shimada anymore, we have what we need. Leave him!”

And like that, all conflict ceased, immediately. All of the Niflheim members were rushing away like cockroaches through a little side door that Jesse was only noticing now. For a second he was too shocked to do anything or even say anything. Somehow, he hadn’t been expecting them to just  _ run away _ . Not after all the trouble they’d put into kidnapping Hanzo. 

Jesse tapped his comms device. “Targets rapidly making an escape via door on south side of room. Counting five of them. We’ve got Hanzo here.”

“Roger that. Sending Shimada men down that way.” Gabe’s voice crackled through the comms device as another tremor shook the room.

It was only then that Jesse let his attention drift to Hanzo.  _ He looks so frightened… _ He approached slowly with a hand held out - Jesse didn’t want to spook Hanzo by moving too quickly or suddenly. He wanted to calm him down, to make him feel safe… Before he could do anything else, Jesse was stumbling back as Hanzo launched himself into his arms. He caught him out of reflex, his arms tucking neatly around his waist. He liked how Hanzo felt against him, though he wished the circumstances were better…

“I’ve gotcha, sweetheart. It’s gonna be okay…” Jesse murmured against Hanzo’s hair. Now that Hanzo was close Jesse could see the damage that had been done, it made his blood boil. There were bruises, little cuts and abrasions...they’d hurt him...

Jesse was a bit concerned when Hanzo didn’t respond to him - but all thoughts fled his mind when Hanzo gave him a blazing look before bringing their lips together in a kiss that left Jesse completely breathless.  _ Damn...that’s...that was… _

“Augh, anija, do you mind? There are other people present.” Genji snickered from the corner. There was blood dripping down his face from the fight, though Jesse wasn’t entirely sure if it was his or someone else’s. Probably best to not think on that for too long.

“Shut up, Sparrow, if I have to see you suck face, you have to see me do it too.” Hanzo countered as he rested his forehead against Jesse’s. He sighed and his expression turned somber again - Jesse immediately missed the soft, peaceful smile that had been on his face. “...there is a lot to explain…”

Jesse was about to say that he should just wait for Gabe to get there so he could explain things - but something in the back of his head told him that maybe Hanzo wanted to say things to a less biased audience first. Maybe he didn’t think Gabe was going to believe him… “Go on, pumpkin. I’m listenin’.”

Genji seemed to notice that this was important and was moving closer as well. “You can tell us, Hanzo.”

The conflicted look on Hanzo’s face was enough to make Jesse’s chest tighten uncomfortably. It was like he was scared to say what all he knew, Jesse didn’t take it personally, but it hurt to see Hanzo  _ frightened _ . 

“T...they...they have proof that our world is two worlds that combined.” Hanzo finally spoke, his voice very nearly inaudible. “Anyone who has magic abilities can feel it. The different types of energy.”

Jesse didn’t have any idea what Hanzo was talking about - he couldn’t feel that kind of thing. They’d wondered for awhile if Deadeye was a type of magic...but...Jesse was guessing it was just some type of hyperfocus. One that gave him a nasty headache later on. But he would definitely believe that their world was two worlds smashed together - there was so much weird shit in Overwatch alone that he believed it…

“T...th...they want to separate the worlds. They want to ‘go back to what nature intended.’” Hanzo snorted the words out, it was clear to Jesse that he didn’t agree with them. “They want to use my dragons, Genji. Because they devour the energy, life force, whatever the fuck you want to call it.”

But Jesse’s mind settled onto what Aubrey yelled  _ ‘we don’t need him anymore!’ _ and it felt like ice dropped into his gut. He really hoped that the men Gabe sent after them were able to catch up and detain them - but his instincts told him that, no, that wouldn’t happen. 

“...how...will that separate everything? And what happens if they do?” Genji spoke in a tone that was shaky and frightened - one that Jesse hadn’t heard from him before and never wanted to hear from him again.

“There’s energy that binds the worlds together...the dragons are to devour that and that will ‘return things to their natural state.’”

Jesse noticed that Hanzo didn’t answer the question of ‘what will happen if the worlds are separated.’ That didn’t make him feel good, quite the opposite, actually. “Han...what’ll happen if they do that?”

Hanzo’s expression chilled him to the bone, it was just so  _ fearful _ . “I don’t know. They don’t know. They don’t  _ care _ ...they...they just...they’re willing to damn billions of people on a whim...I…”

The floor rumbled under them and Jesse jumped so hard he nearly let go of Hanzo. But this time the shaking was accompanied by something else - the acute feeling that something was dreadfully  _ wrong _ . It was like electricity was coursing through the air and jolting through Jesse, paralyzing him. He could barely breathe. 

“Hanzo!” Genji’s voice broke through the haze that was filling Jesse’s head. “Wh...what...what’s going on??”

Jesse pulled back just enough so he could see Hanzo. It was like he was fading at the edges, like some sort of ghost. Or a mirage. Something that wasn’t fully grounded in reality. And it was spreading, like he was disintegrating into nothingness. 

But what made it worse was the expression on Hanzo’s face. He didn’t look like he was in pain - for that Jesse was grateful - but his face was twisted in terror. Not like that of an adult, but like a frightened child. His chest was heaving with each breath and it was clear that his shoulders were shaking.

“I...I don’t know...I…” Hanzo stared up at Jesse, his eyes silently pleading for help.  _ But I don’t know how to help him… _

“Anija, just...just stay calm. It’s going to be okay. I’ll help you. I…” Genji reached for Hanzo’s fading hand and gasped as he grasped onto nothing but air. “It’ll...it’ll be okay. I…” Genji’s voice was weaker now, Jesse could tell that the younger man knew he was spewing lies at this point. He just wanted Hanzo to be a little calm…

Jesse leaned in and cupped Hanzo’s cheek. He was relieved that it was still solid - but despite that fact he could feel it becoming less and less material. “It’s going to be okay, Hanzo. I’ll figure out what’s happenin’, okay?” He got a frantic nod in return and felt ice plummet into his stomach when he felt a tear drip onto his hand.  _ Please don’t cry... _ “It’s gonna be okay.” He leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to Hanzo’s lips, his heart breaking a little when he felt the softness of Hanzo’s lips fade to nothing. “I’ll find you.”

“What’s going on?”

Jesse jumped when he heard Gabe’s voice and looked back at the spot where Hanzo was fading. He was nearly gone now...and Jesse didn’t know what was going on, why it was happening, anything like that. 

He couldn’t even figure out where to begin the explanation - what could he say that actually summed up what happened. All he could do was hang his head because Jesse failed to save Hanzo. 

He didn’t even know if Hanzo was able to be saved...or what happened. 

But he knew he failed.

 

* * *

  
  


The trip back to Hanamura was hellishly awkward. No one spoke. No one knew what to say, Jesse especially. He was in trouble with Gabe and he knew that they’d disappointed the Shimada by not managing to rescue Hanzo. Now they were going to have to explain to Sojiro that his son vanished right before their eyes and that they hadn’t been able to do anything about it.

If Jesse managed to rescue Hanzo, then Gabe probably would dismiss the insubordination and whole going AWOL thing. But...they hadn’t rescued him…

_ I’m sorry, Hanzo… _

The worst of it was that Gabe wasn’t letting them explain what Hanzo said before he vanished. Jesse knew he needed to pass that information on. If anyone could get something done with it, it was Gabe. He had the experience and the know-how. 

But Gabe wasn’t having any of it.

“McCree, Genji, you two stay here.” Gabe grunted out the words as they arrived at the Shimada manor. “I will talk to Sojiro.”

Genji squawked indignantly and got to his feet. It was the most fight that Genji had shown since Hanzo vanished before their eyes - up until this point he’d been slumped in his seat staring off into space. “You can give your men orders, but you can’t order me around like that.” He was glaring up at Gabe with all his might, like it was Gabe’s fault that Hanzo disappeared.

Gabe dragged one of his hands over his face and sighed. “You’re right. I can’t. But do you want me to spend time and effort calling your daddy to make  _ him _ tell you to stay put for five goddamn minutes?”

Jesse flinched and stared down at the floor. Gabe was pissed, rightfully so. Not only had Jesse gone AWOL, but he endangered one of the Shimada sons. Blackwatch was likely going to be in trouble with the Shimada for that - add in that Hanzo  _ vanished _ and they were fucked. There was no other way to describe it.

Genji backed down just a little and shook his head. “No need to do that, sir.” 

Gabe left the transport and everything went awkwardly quiet again. Neither Jesse nor Genji felt up to talking, so they just were silent. Between Gabe being gone and the silence, Jesse had far too much time with his own thoughts. About the fact that they didn’t know what was going on with Hanzo, the fact that he was going to be punished… The latter was the one really digging into his brain at the moment - memories of what he’d gone through at Deadlock continued running through his mind on repeat. He knew Gabe wasn’t like that, but he couldn’t help but think things would be exactly like they were back then. 

To distract himself from the unpleasant memories, he glanced over at Genji. The younger man was sitting cross-legged on the floor. One hand was held in front of him, two fingers pointing up.  _ Is he meditating or something…? _ Jesse wasn’t entirely sure now was the right time for that...but if it helped keep him calm, he wasn’t going to judge. To each their own.

It sure as hell beat sitting and reliving terrible memories from your youth.

Or at least Jesse  _ assumed _ that. He’d never actually tried to meditate. Ana had suggested it to him once to help with the anxiety that sometimes spiked up because of certain situations, but Jesse had never actually tried it. Maybe he’d give it a shot once all of this was done…

Jesse wasn’t entirely sure how long Gabe was gone - he lost track of time. But by the time Gabe was coming back to the transport, Jesse’s ass hurt from sitting on the uncomfortable seat for so long and he couldn’t be entirely sure that he’d been  _ awake  _ for the entirety of the time Gabe was gone. At the very least, he hadn’t been completely present mentally the whole time, of that he could be certain.

“Good. You two stayed put.” Gabe snorted as he walked back in. Jesse noted that he was distinctly  _ grumpy _ from the meeting.  _ Best to tread carefully then…  _ “Genji, your father wants you going home. He said the clan elders will be handling your punishment.” Jesse heard Genji gasp and get up to move, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Gabe. “Jesse, you’re getting sent back to Blackwatch HQ.”

Time moved in slow motion and Jesse could feel his heart shattering at those words. His eyes were wide and he couldn’t bring himself to take a breath.  _ I can’t get sent back to HQ...there’s still so much that needs to be done! I gotta get Hanzo back, I promised… _

“Wh...what?” Jesse’s voice hitched and he internally kicked himself.  _ Hold it together, McCree. Breaking down just shows that you don’t belong on high pressure missions. _ “Sir...I...I don’t understand?” 

“You went AWOL, you disobeyed orders, and you endangered someone we were meant to protect.” With each word, Gabe’s voice got rougher, angrier. And Jesse knew he deserved each and every bit of that anger, but at the same time, he wanted to argue. He wanted to prove that he still belonged here. “If I can’t trust you to follow orders, then you don’t belong on this mission.”

Jesse recoiled like he’d been struck and looked down at the ground instead of making eye contact.  _ He has a point… _ Yet...Gabe had always encouraged Jesse to question orders, to call Gabe on things he might be doing inefficiently or incorrectly. What Jesse lacked in formal schooling he made up for in actual field experience and understanding tactics. That and he was a quick learner.

“If we hadn’t been there, I don’t think you would’ve found the room we did.” Jesse straightened his back and calmed himself the best he could. “Because we only found it because  _ Genji _ could feel Hanzo’s energy.” 

_ If I stay calm...if I can keep my cool...maybe I can convince him to let me stay… _ Jesse just wanted to help. He wanted to fix the problem and save Hanzo. 

“Because of you two rushing ahead, we had to operate faster. We couldn’t properly plan everything out.” Gabe crossed his arms over his chest and stood taller yet. “Because of your affection for Hanzo, you froze and didn’t inform us that Niflheim was getting away until it was too late. You endangered Genji’s life. You endangered  _ your _ life. I can’t have someone who can’t follow basic orders on my team when I’m chasing down Niflheim. You’re going back to HQ, end of discussion.”

Jesse felt like he’d been slapped across the face. He flinched back and scowled at Gabe with all his might as his words sank in.  _ Chasing down Niflheim… _ “What about Hanzo? Aren’t you goin’ to try and find him?” His voice was creeping up in volume, his frustration and anger feeding into everything.

Silence fell between the two of them and Jesse realized he was crossing several lines and was damaging his standing. But he didn’t  _ care _ at this point. 

“We don’t know what happened to him. We have men on it, but my focus needs to be on chasing down the threat to the world.”

Jesse knew that Gabe was right - going after Niflheim was the right choice. But he knew what ‘we have men on it’ meant in Blackwatch speak:  _ I’ll get around to it eventually _ . Finding Hanzo wasn’t a priority. 

“You don’t have a goddamn heart!” Jesse’s voice cracked as he very nearly yelled. “Gabe...don’t...how can you just…”  _ Don’t get all weepy...don’t break down. I can’t be like this...I need to stay calm!  _ “You told me we don’t leave people behind, you told me we were different than Overwatch. You told me--”

Jesse didn’t get to finish speaking. “Go back to the hotel room and pack your bag. You’re going back to HQ in two hours.” Gabe walked away, ending the conversation and dismissing Jesse all at once. 

His breath was caught in his throat and it felt like all color and sound was fading away. Gabe couldn’t be doing this, he couldn’t be sending him back to HQ like he was a naughty child. He just couldn’t.  _ What the hell am I supposed to do…?! _ Jesse could feel tears starting to sting his eyes and he couldn’t stop them. At all. They couldn’t be leaving Hanzo behind, they just couldn’t. 

“Yo.” 

Jesse startled, tripped over one of the jump seats, and fell ass over teakettle into a lump on the floor of the transport. He cursed under his breath and tried to calm his racing heartbeat. “What the fuck?!” He peered up at the person who startled and saw Genji grinning down at him.

“Sorry cowboy, didn’t think you’d jump like that. So...wanna save my brother and the world?” Genji spoke the words like he was speaking of going and getting ice cream, not something that was weighty and dangerous. And he was  _ still _ grinning.

Jesse stared at him, his mouth hanging slightly open, and tried to process everything. Genji wanted to save the world and recover Hanzo…?  _ But we don’t know how…  _ “Uh…?”  _ Oh wow, real articulate here, McCree. Good job. Way to sound like someone who is capable of going on a mission like this. _

“I’m not about to go home when the elders are going to kick my ass for running off like that.” Genji snorted. “...and while Gabe was off talking to my dad I decided to uh...do a few things…”

_ But he was meditating that whole time!! _ “...I’m havin’ a bit of trouble followin’.” Jesse admitted. “You were meditatin’...I don’t see how that leads to suddenly knowing how to solve the world’s problems.”

Genji snickered and shrugged lightly. “You know we are magic. You know that we have dragon forms.” Jesse opened his mouth to question  _ how _ Genji knew about him knowing. “I saw you catch Hanzo when he fell out of the tree into his human form.” _ oh, that makes sense, I guess. _ “What you don’t know is that those forms are  _ gifts _ from our dragons. The tattoos appear when our dragons come to us.” He ran his fingers along the green design that was just barely visible at the collar of his shirt. “We host them, we get their abilities.”

Jesse had the distinct feeling that this wasn’t stuff he was supposed to be hearing. He knew that the older magic families were all super secretive about who was allowed to know about how their magic worked and all that nonsense. But he guessed it made sense? Maybe? Magic was the one thing that continuously baffled him. He didn’t have experience in using it and while he saw it every day, he had trouble wrapping his mind around it sometimes.

“O...kay?” Jesse righted himself a little and rubbed at his face. “I appreciate the explanations...but uh...I’m having trouble putting this together.”

“When I was meditating I was speaking with Ramen--”

“Hold up, you were talkin’ with  _ what? _ ” Jesse stared up at him incredulously. 

“Ramen. My dragon. Her name is Ramen.” Genji laughed. “Don’t judge me, cowboy, I was only four when I named her. And I bet you named your hat.”

Jesse opened his mouth to refute that, but he  _ did _ name his hat. He just wasn’t going to say that to Genji. He needed to preserve some of his dignity. “Okay, go on then.”

“Ramen can still feel Hanzo’s energy. She can still feel Soba and Udon too.” Genji leaned in. Jesse could only assume that Soba and Udon were Hanzo’s dragons.  _ Why does he get two when his brother only gets one? Weird. _ “So we can save them. And the world. You in?”

_ There’s still hope then… _ Jesse felt a smile quirking the corners of his mouth. He got to his feet and brushed his clothes off before settling his hands onto his hips. “Damn right I’m in. Like hell am I gettin’ sent back to HQ right now.”

Oh, this was going to get Jesse into worlds of trouble, he knew it. But if they had the chance to get Hanzo back and save the world he was going to take it. 

_ We’re coming, Hanzo. Just keeping holding on. _


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for this chapter: blood, loss of limb

Getting out of Hanamura was surprisingly easy when one had yakuza funds paying for everything. Genji wasn’t afraid to use his family’s money and Jesse was more than a little grateful. His wallet practically started crying at the sight of the any of the prices they encountered (clothing, supplies, transportation, various other expenses). They’d left behind anything that could be tracked or was too easily noticed. Jesse left his hat behind, left it right on Gabe’s bed. Genji dyed his hair so he’d blend into crowds better. They were being cautious.

It didn’t take long for Overwatch to start hounding them. There were alerts up for both of them - not warrants, more like missing persons ads. Jesse was a little apprehensive about that, but he _had_ a warrant on his head when he was in Deadlock and didn’t get caught until the Blackwatch sting, so...he was fairly confident they could handle this. At least for a little bit. At least long enough to fix the planet and save Hanzo.

Hopefully.

“So how’s this work anyway?” Jesse asked as he stood next to Genji. They were in the back of a semi-truck with the cargo. Easier to avoid detection by authorities if they traveled in unorthodox ways, after all. “An’ why do we need to move so fast?”

That was the one thing that Jesse was less than fond of - Genji didn’t explain things all at once. He understood _why_ Genji was holding back information - it primarily dealt with time constraints. But he hadn’t explained _why_ they were under a time constraint.

Jesse wanted to understand.

If he better understood the situation, he could better plan for what might happen. He might be able to anticipate things better.

“Well...whatever they’re using is using energy extremely similar to my brother’s. It is easy enough for me to feel for it and locate it.” Genji was sitting on one of the storage boxes, legs crossed with his back straight. It was probably the best posture he’d seen Genji have since meeting him. “So it will work in the sense that I will seek out that energy and we chase it down. Eventually we will catch up.”

_That eventually part makes me nervous._

But Jesse could live with that. He wasn’t entirely sure they’d be able to keep dodging Overwatch if they had to be out that long, but he would do his best to keep them hidden even though he knew every day that he was on his own meant another strike against him from Gabe. _Maybe he’ll go easy on me if we recover Hanzo and save the world._

“And what about the ‘gotta go fast’ part?” Jesse braced himself as the truck went over a bump. He glanced over at Genji, the kid barely looked like he wobbled from the truck jolting like it did.

Genji was visibly hesitating - Jesse could only guess that he was mulling over how to say what he needed to. But he couldn’t help the nerves that flared up because hesitation though.

“...because if...if they actually activate that device...if it devours the energy…” Genji looked down at his lap and his shoulders crunched in. “Hanzo’s gone forever. I can’t be completely sure… but Ramen wouldn’t lie to me… and she can feel her brothers in that mix of energy between the worlds.”

_And if Hanzo’s dragons are there...that’s where Hanzo is. Because they’re hosts for the dragons…_ Jesse felt the pit of his stomach drop out. Gone forever. If they weren’t fast enough, Hanzo might be gone forever. The entire _world_ would be gone. _Stop being selfish, McCree. This isn’t just about Hanzo. This is about_ **_everyone._ **

“Then we’ll do this real quick-like.” Jesse sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Okay?”

Genji gave him a smile that was melancholic at best. “Yeah, we’ll do this.”

They fell into silence, which Jesse was less than pleased by. Silence left him with his thoughts and his thoughts weren’t pleasant at the moment. He didn’t want to think about worst case scenarios, yet that’s all that came to mind. It felt like there should be more for them to do than wait and see. There _had_ to be more.

And he was scared. For Hanzo, for his friends and family, for everyone. Jesse was scared for himself too, but it was more like an afterthought than anything else.

Jesse wasn’t entirely sure how much time passed, he was spacing out and getting lost in his thoughts too much to really pay attention. But eventually an uncomfortable twinge started creeping into his mind, just the vague unease that something was _not_ right. It was somewhere between ‘might vomit’ and ‘dissociating while eating cereal’ on the scale of _not quite right_. And stranger yet, there was a familiarity in the wrongness and Jesse couldn’t quite place why it was familiar. An arc of blue sparks shot off one of the walls and Jesse jumped hard. The hair on his arms was standing on end and chills running down his spine.

“J...Jesse...I think…I think…” Genji mumbled out the words as he slid off of the container he was perched on. “Magic flare up.”

“Whoa there!” Jesse moved and caught Genji before he hit the ground. He could feel the younger man trembling, he swore he could feel goosebumps on Genji’s arms. “Hey...you okay…?”

Obviously Genji wasn’t, but Jesse felt the need to ask. He wanted to get Genji talking so he’d stay calm. Panic wasn’t going to help anything. _But what can we do? I don’t know what runs on magic in this truck...and Genji doesn’t look like he can help out right now…_

“Feel sick.” Genji shivered and slid out of Jesse’s arms to get to his feet. He was wobbling, but managing to stay standing. “Can’t really tell what runs on magic in here. Everything feels wrong.”

_Guess that means I’m right…_ Jesse rubbed the back of his neck. He supposed the best course of action was to keep Genji calm and hope they could work this out. He didn’t really fancy the idea of being stuck in the back of a moving semi-truck when magic was going haywire.

“S’alright. We’ll just...uh...hang out in here and wait it out. It’s gonna be okay.” Jesse somehow managed to sound confident and calm despite his heart racing and panic starting to settle in. _Lying to my boyfriend’s little brother…_

“Y...yeah. That’s a good idea.” Genji held onto himself - he looked like a spring that was coiled too tightly, like he was going to explode or break or something.

Another bit of magic arced across the truck and Jesse ducked reflexively. _I really don’t like this, I really don’t like being in here when things are going haywire…_ He shook away the fear that was starting to flare up - it wouldn’t do any good. Jesse dragged his gaze back over to Genji and felt ice start chugging through his veins.

He was fading at the edges.

Just like Hanzo.

_Oh no. Oh god...if Genji’s vanishes too what the hell am I going to do? And...god...Hanzo would kill me if I let his brother vanish…!_ Jesse felt his throat constricting and his chest aching and he wasn’t sure what he should do. He could hear Gabe’s words echoing in his mind: flight, fight, or freeze. And damn, he was freezing. He ran hands through his hair and tried to get a full lung of air to no avail. _Calm down._

“W...wait…” Genji lifted his hand, his eyes going deer-in-the-headlights wide as he examined it. “N...no, no no no…! This can’t...this can’t be happening…”

_Do something, McCree!_

Jesse exhaled roughly and closed the distance between before taking Genji’s hands into his. “Breathe. Breathe with me. It’s gonna be okay, got it?” Jesse didn’t actually know if it was going to be okay. If Genji vanished they were screwed. Jesse wouldn’t be able to track down Niflheim on his own…

But he shoved those thoughts from his mind. Right now he needed to calm down a young man who was panicking and starting to cry...those two facts were enough to make Jesse want to help.

“I don’t...I don’t want to go…” Genji’s lower lip was wobbling and Jesse could see little green wisps floating up from the bit of exposed tattoo. He was holding onto Jesse’s hands so tightly and even in the dim light of the truck Jesse could see that he was crying. “I need...I have to find Hanzo…”

“That’s right, we’re gonna find Hanzo, right?” Jesse held his hands tighter and gave them a little squeeze. “We’re gonna get your big brother back an’ everything’s gonna be okay. Alright?”

One of the flashes of magic hit Jesse’s back and it took everything in him to keep himself from crying out or cursing or anything like that. It felt like a red hot poker was being pressed to his skin. _I can cry about that later...right now I’ve got to keep Genji calm…_

“Y...yeah. We’re going to get him back.” Genji repeated the words back, but they were muffled by frightened tears and Jesse could feel him shaking.

Jesse wasn’t sure how long he sat there trying to keep Genji calm - he supposed it didn’t matter. He tried to keep his focus on words, on what he was saying to Genji, but his eyes kept drifting to the fact that Genji was becoming more and more transparent. That his grip wasn’t quite as firm or solid. The little sparks of magic kept bombarding them - he was almost afraid of what his back was going to look like. _It’s gonna look like I’m into burn play…_

But eventually it all stopped.

The terrible, stifling feeling vanished. The sparks stopped.

And most importantly, Genji went back to normal. Or at least mostly normal… There were a few spots that were _lighter_ than they should be. Parts that were semi-transparent instead of fully opaque.

Jesse wasn’t entirely sure _why_ Genji didn’t vanish like Hanzo did, but he was going to count his blessings and accept that _something_ smiled upon them at that point.

The only thing Jesse was absolutely certain of was that they were running out of time. He just hoped they could get there in time.

* * *

  


They fell into a routine. They would wake up, eat something, do the regular everyday things. Then Jesse would watch over Genji as he meditated and figured out the direction they needed to be going. While he did that, he tried to not focus on the parts of Genji that were getting paler and paler…

At the very least he knew they were getting closer. Genji didn’t have to meditate as long.

“...we’ve caught up.” Genji mumbled as he stood up.

_He looks so tired…_

Jesse blinked as Genji’s words settled in. “...we did?” Somehow he hadn’t been expected them to catch up so quickly.

“Yeah. We...we should finish this. Today.”

There was a tone in Genji’s voice that chilled Jesse straight to the bone. _He knows he doesn’t have much time left, he knows that he’s going to disappear too…_ But at the same time, Jesse was getting the same feeling. They needed to finish this _today_. Something in his gut was screaming at him that something terrible was going to happen.

Neither of them were really in the best condition for finishing things. Jesse wasn’t even sure how many days they’d been on the road at this point. But being constantly on the move was exhausting, especially when you had to dodge Overwatch as well. But it was now or never…

“Agreed. Well...not much to get ready, is there?” Jesse rubbed the back of his head. They were traveling fairly light - only the basic necessities to keep hygiene at an acceptable level. And weapons. Obviously Jesse wasn’t going to go on a mission like this without a weapon. Or six. _I wish I had my body armor though...I’m going to get pretty roughed up if we run into resistance…_

“Not really…” Genji sighed and offered a crooked smile. “Just means we can get in there faster. Get in, save the world, get out, everything’s good. Right?”

_That’s naïvely optimistic…_ But Jesse cracked a smile and nodded. “That’s right, partner.” He reached to tip his hat and then sighed when he remembered he’d left it in Hanamura. It felt weird to be going into a mission without it. His hat had been with him since before his Deadlock days.

Getting ready didn’t take long at all. Despite how well all that was going, Jesse couldn’t stop the thoughts that were racing through his head. He let Genji take point - after all, Genji was the one who actually knew where they were going. Jesse could only follow and hope that they didn’t hit a spot where they needed to scale a sheer cliff or something like that. Genji would be able to scale it without a problem, but Jesse? Jesse would be well and truly fucked.

And he was genuinely concerned about needing to use more athletic ways to get through the terrain. Jesse was annoyed that, once again, the base was in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere. _If something goes wrong, we’re completely screwed…_

But Genji managed to find a way to where they needed to be that avoided the worst of the terrain. Jesse stared down the steep hill as Genji darted down it without hesitation or issue. Not even a little bit of a wobble. _Damn ninja...I’m going to fall on my ass or face or something._ He shook his head and started down the hill. He had to jog to keep his feet under him and even then it felt like he was going to tumble down the hill.

“You all good, Jesse?” Genji called from the bottom.

“Yeah, doin’ okay. Don’t need to worry about me.” Jesse slid down the last few feet and skidded to a halt in front of Genji. “See? Piece of cake.” _Let’s not mention the part where it felt like I was going to fall._

Genji shook his head and laughed. It seemed he didn’t believe Jesse. _Whatever_.

Jesse finally looked at where Genji had brought him. It was simple. Far more simple than he anticipated. He had built up this image in his mind of a _fortress_ , something that suited a big name group like Niflheim. But he was faced with what appeared to be a pancake shaped building that almost looked _residential_ . Despite that whole being in the middle of nowhere thing. _This feels like a goddamn trap…_

It was too easy to find, too easy to get into, just...too easy. Nothing in Jesse’s life was this easy. He was half expecting Overwatch to appear out of nowhere and spirit them away before they even had a chance to get anything done. But after two or three minutes of staring at the door, no one showed up. Nothing bad happened. Jesse took that as a sign that they should stop tempting fate and get a move on it.

“Stick together, we gotta find whatever thing they’re using. I...try not to kill anyone...I want them to face justice for what they’re doing.” Jesse muttered to Genji as they approached the door - they had only found _one_ door.  That didn’t make Jesse feel good either, there only being one door.

“I can’t make promises.” Genji’s voice was colder than Jesse had ever heard it. “...they kidnapped my brother and tried to force him into helping them.”

Jesse couldn’t blame Genji for being mad. Jesse was mad too. He exhaled as he looked at the door and grinned - this one wasn’t an electronic locking mechanism. It was old-fashioned. He hummed as he approached the door and picked the lock within minutes. _Glad that I haven’t lost my touch._ He turned and shot a confident, almost cocky look in Genji’s direction, who merely rolled his eyes in response.

“It would have been faster to kick the door in.” Genji grumbled.

“Ya, but don’t know ‘bout you, but I’m not gonna trigger security alarms just because I got impatient.”

They entered the building a moment later. It was fairly normal in appearance, almost warm and inviting. Jesse figured they hijacked this building from some well-meaning group and repurposed it for their own uses. It’s what Deadlock would have done, at least. Why build your own facility when you can steal one that’s already furnished? _Probably not the best thought to have when you’re on the good side of the law, McCree_.

Everything was quiet - which to Jesse meant that Niflheim either knew he and Genji were coming and were waiting to jump on them, or that they actually managed to catch them off guard. He was also inclined to believe that quietness meant there weren’t that many people in the facility - but he figured that was just wishful thinking. Jesse didn’t want to get his hopes up. He would just keep expecting the worst and be pleasantly surprised if things actually went their way for once.

He let Genji take point and followed after him - after all, Genji was the one who could actually feel the energy they needed to be hunting down. Jesse had Peacekeeper drawn, though his finger wasn’t on the trigger yet. Despite his nerves about the situation, the fear that was coiling in his stomach like a venomous snake, his hands were steady and his breathing even. He followed along quietly, checking behind them often to make sure they weren’t being tailed.

Thus far...nothing.

But a chill ran down Jesse’s spine the further they went into the facility. Something just felt...wrong. He swore he could see things out of the corners of his eyes, just little shadows or...something. He couldn’t really tell what they were and that was bothering him - even though he knew they were probably stemming from paranoia… _Usually don’t get like this though…_

Jesse tried to shake those thoughts away, to keep his mind focused on what needed to be done, but he couldn’t. It almost looked like the walls had some sort of viscous liquid dripping down them...it almost looked like blood… The more he looked at the walls, the clearer the blood drips became; they even started looking like they were breathing. He couldn’t shake the thought that he was hallucinating, or the fear that was slowly creeping through his body.

“Uh...Genji? I think...there’s something goin’ on…” _That’s a bit of an understatement…_ Jesse knew he should have mentioned things earlier, but he had been hoping it would resolve, that he was just stressed, anything.

“Yeah...um...it’s freaking me out?” _Well, at least I’m not alone in being all weirded out…_ It was probably bad for him to take solace in that, but it was helping keep him at least some semblance of calm. “And...uh...whatever it is...I can’t feel the energy right now. Or...not as well? It keeps fluctuating.”

_Wonderful_.

Jesse opened a door and pulled Genji in - if Genji was having trouble detecting things, then they might as well start checking rooms just so they were covering their asses. Immediately upon entering the room, Jesse was greeted by a fist to his face. He stumbled back a few feet and pressed a hand to his face out of reflex. There were little stars flashing across his vision and felt like there was electricity pulsing under his skin. _Don’t think I want to take another of those hits…_ Jesse dragged his gaze back up so he could take in the situation. The person in front of him was completely unremarkably; brown hair, brown eyes, average build, tan skin. They looked like the type of person you could forget was in the same room as you. But that didn’t mean that Jesse was going to underestimate them. He glanced at Genji and the two exchanged a nod. _Fight._

“Oy, Noel, Liam! Shut down baby dragon before he can get going!” A female voice cut through the eerie silence.

Pandemonium broke out.

Jesse watched as two men rushed at Genji in an attempt to catch him off guard, thankfully it seemed Genji had no intention of going down easily. The three clashed hard and despite the fact that Genji was exhausted, there was a bright grin on his face and a light in his eyes  as he fought. _He’s having fun fighting…_ Jesse shook his head and glanced around to try and get an idea of what sort of situation they were in.

“Looks like you’re fighting us.” The same female voice from before caught Jesse’s attention. Jesse recognized her as one of the ones from when Hanzo disappeared - though he didn’t recognize the girl next to her. She was tall with dark hair and pale skin. “I’m Alisa, this is Phaedra. Sorry Blackwatch dog, you’re not getting out of this alive.”

Jesse clenched his jaw when he was called a dog. It was something he’d been called back at Deadlock to put him in his place, it was something that made his skin crawl. He hated feeling like he was worth less than an animal, that he was less than human. “My name is _Jesse_.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Alisa bit the words out with a vicious grin on her face. “We’re going to win.”

_Like hell am I going down that easily._ Jesse straightened up and shook his shoulders out. He didn’t really like the idea of fighting ladies, it just didn’t seem right. But he didn’t really have a choice at this point.

He didn’t have much time to think further than that - Alisa was darting in and throwing punches at him so quickly he swore he could hear the air whistling around her arms. Jesse was on the defensive and trying to keep his eyes on both girls. While Alisa was engaging him, Phaedra was hanging back and that _really_ wasn’t making him comfortable. _Pretty sure she’s going to attack when she thinks I’m distracted…_  Jesse didn’t really have any intention of letting himself get distracted, but that was beside the point. It was likely to happen anyway.

“What, are you afraid to hit a little girl like me?” Alisa taunted as she kept throwing hits. “Trying to be all chivalrous?”

“Ain’t afraid to hit you, just don’t like hittin’ ladies, that’s all.” Jesse blocked one of the strikes and redirected her toward Phaedra.

Alisa was surprisingly bouncy and resilient, she barely even reacted to flying into Phaedra and was already coming at Jesse again. “Sounds like you’re a coward. Afraid to hit me. Guess we’ll just have to up the stakes, you know what that means, Phaedra.”

Jesse didn’t really want to know what that meant.

The feeling that something horrible was going to happen was surging up again, but worse this time. Before it was like ice dropped into his stomach, this time it was the feeling that he needed to get _out_ . Jesse hadn’t felt like that in ages and that fact was utterly terrifying. _No, don’t prove her right, I’m not a coward…_

Jesse barely had enough time to jump back from the next punch and by the time he was settled into his relaxed stance there was an odd chill rolling through the room. It felt like he was being pulled further away from the fight by _something_ . He dropped his weight to make himself harder to move but still felt that odd tugging sensation. More surprisingly, Alisa wasn’t attacking, she was just smirking. _Her smirking shouldn’t piss me off so much, but here we are._ But her smirk still prompted Jesse to look over his shoulder.

_Oh hell_.

It was like he was looking into pure darkness. It was just _black_ . There was no light penetrating from the center of it and tendrils whisped out along the edges, like arms that were trying to tug anything nearby in. It felt like his body was compelled to go closer, even though he knew it was dangerous. Even though he _knew_ it was a black hole. Despite that, there was still part of him that wanted to examine it, to explore it, to find out what happened if you went in… Phaedra was standing behind it, one arm extended while the other arm braced, it almost looked like the black hole was projecting out of her hand. Her face was screwed up in concentration and pain. _This isn’t easy for her..._

Jesse’s thoughts were interrupted as pain erupted across the right side of his ribcage. He stumbled several feet to the left, but managed to stop a good ways away from the black hole. But the magnetic pull was even stronger now. He kicked at Alisa to keep her a good distance away from him while his eyes sought out Genji. The younger man was struggling, that much was obvious. The smile was still on his face, but his eyes were hard and his brows were pinched together. _This isn’t good…_

“Genji! Distract ‘em!” Jesse wasn’t sure what Genji would do, but he was certain it would surprise them.

Genji looked irritated for a moment, then confused, and then finally amused. “One distraction coming up!”

Very suddenly, Genji was gone. In his place was a green, noodly dragon that undulated in the air. For a moment, it seemed like Alisa, Phaedra, Noel, and Liam were all frozen, all of them too shocked to react to the fact that they were suddenly faced with a dragon.

“Why did you do that?” Liam snorted as he finally glanced over at Jesse. “Now it’s just going to be all of us versus you.”

“Go ahead and try!” Jesse snickered. He knew first hand just how annoying those noodles could be, just how fast they were, and how much of a _little shit_ Genji Shimada was capable of being.

It was almost comical when they tried to attack him. Genji weaved through their ankles, smacked one across the face with his tail, bit one of them, shrieked in someone’s ear, stole things from them, all sorts of things. All while moving around so fast that he was just a green blur.

But Jesse couldn’t dwell on how funny that was. He and Genji had a mission and he intended to see it through to the end. He just wanted it done and he wanted it done quickly. Jesse exhaled and rubbed at his face. He didn’t want to resort to this, he wanted to take Niflheim alive so they could atone for what they were doing…

But this needed to end now.

Jesse pulled Peacekeeper from her holster and exhaled slowly. She felt heavier in his hand today, almost burdensome. As Jesse aimed, he felt the world around him going quiet. The mayhem Genji was causing was muted, subdued...it almost sounded far away. _Focus...focus…_ Everything seemed to slow down, almost to the point of stopping. The sun was beating down on him and a familiar heat spread through him, so dry and unyielding. The heat from home. Santa Fe, the desert. He could smell the dust in the air as well as gunpowder. His past defined his sense of justice, standing by and doing nothing just let the problem continue to fester. _Justice ain’t gonna dispense itself._ His past, his _home_ , honed his focus, made all of this possible. Finally all color started to fade away, except for the heads of his targets, those were blood red. Four glowing, obvious skulls ready to receive justice. His the beat of his heart was more like a tolling bell as the seconds ticked on and on. _Accept that their blood is on your hands, take responsibility._ He breathed out as he squeezed the trigger. “Draw!”

Four shots fired in quick succession, each perfectly aimed. The bodies hit the ground with a soft thump. Instantly, the world came back into focus, all sounds, smells, sights, everything. Jesse reeled back as he holstered Peacekeeper. It took a second for him to sluggishly track where Genji was now, but he found the green noodle dragon hovering in a corner, completely unharmed. _Good_.

A moment later, Genji was back in his human form. “...holy shit, how did you do that?”

Jesse swayed slightly and pointed finger guns at Genji. “Good ol’ fashioned hyper focus. C’mon...let’s finish this.”

He finally had a chance to look around the room they were in - plain, utilitarian, with computers and screens lining one wall and a strange looking device sitting on a table. But much like the hallways, viscous liquid was trailing down the walls. Blood. Or maybe it just looked like blood because of the people he’d killed…

Either way, the horrible, paranoid feeling was back and Jesse was less than amused.

“You must be Genji Shimada.” A familiar voice rang out from the area surrounding them - not from any one location, but from multiple. Jesse knew it was one of the people from Niflheim, but he didn’t know which one was left. “Clever of you to figure out how to track us. But where is your dear older brother?”

Jesse bristled and watched Genji’s shoulders go rigid. He swore he could hear the younger man growling and snarling. But what concerned him more was the odd green aura that was starting to emanate from his frame and the sudden scent of a summer thunderstorm and the sensation of heat and electricity. Jesse knew it wasn’t something he could really feel, but he swore he could feel killing intent hanging in the air like a guillotine.

“Hey now...let’s keep things calm here.” Jesse held both hands up - he was still holding his gun, but he made sure it was obvious that he was practicing trigger safety. “Hanzo ain’t here.” Somehow, Jesse didn’t think whats-his-face actually knew what happened to Hanzo. He put a hand on Genji’s shoulder and shivered as it felt like every hair on his body stood on end. The younger man was tense, but didn’t pull away. _Hope that’s a good sign..._

“Well, he does not need to be here. We don’t need him anymore.” Jesse finally remembered the man’s name - Aubrey. The one who seemed to be the leader. “You can’t stop this...you should just give up now. Don’t you wish for the world to be as nature wanted?”

_This guy is fucking nuts._ Jesse could see why Hanzo was so frightened that people weren’t going to believe him, because hearing this guy talk had Jesse’s bullshit senses going off. “Nah. Kinda think that things happened for a reason. Haven’t you ever heard the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ - things were workin’. No reason to break it.”

Genji pulled away from him, the otherwordly green glow only getting stronger, more prominent. _That can’t be good…_ Jesse could barely react when Genji flew into action. “Holy shit, Genji no!” _He’s damn fast, shit!_

Before anything could happen one way or the other, before Jesse even had a chance to grab at Genji to keep him from doing something stupid, the feeling of _wrong_ increased tenfold and Genji stopped in his tracks. The scent of blood was so strong in the air that Jesse could taste it in the back of his throat. Gross and unpleasant, but ultimately tolerable, as was the stifling darkness. Uncomfortable, but nothing terrible. Jesse definitely encountered worse in his time with Deadlock.

He could hear Genji whimpering in either fear or pain, it was hard for Jesse to tell. And while he felt for him, he knew he needed to keep moving. There was something in his mind telling him that Aubrey _probably_ hoped to slow or stop both him and Genji - so he was going to take advantage of the fact that he could still move.

“That’s right...you’re at my mercy, Genji...just...give up. Let things return to how they are meant to be.” Aubrey’s voice was soothing, hypnotic. Jesse hated it.

It was hard to move, like he was wading through molasses on a cold day. He had to fight for every inch of progress and it was further hindered by what felt like the weight of the world crushing him toward the ground.

“Now now, Blackwatch, not so fast…” Aubrey’s voice went singsong and the atmosphere shifted completely.

Once again, the familiar heat of the desert washed over him. Somehow, the room was taking on the coloration as well - the reddish sands and the bluest sky melding with the floor and walls. He swore he could hear a hawk screech in the distance, but maybe his mind was just filling the gaps. Jesse sighed, it was bittersweet to be seeing the desert, it wasn’t like he could freely go to and from New Mexico. Deadlock would kill him on sight and he didn’t really get leave from Blackwatch.

_“Look at that, the little bitch dun come back home beggin’ for scraps. You get tired of your fancy goverment job, McCree? You think Deadlock will take you back jus’ like that?”_

Jesse twitched at the sound of _that_ voice. Kilgore. Deadlock’s former boss. Even two years later the mere sound of his voice made every muscle in Jesse’s body tense and a cold sweat break out. Even though Jesse knew that Kilgore was dead. He watched Gabe shoot Kilgore during the raid on Deadlock. Even with that knowledge...Kilgore still terrified Jesse.

_“Still cowerin’, still unable to stand up to me. Coward. You ain’t ever gonna be something. You’ll always be the no good, sonuvabitch from Deadlock who ain’t got nothin’ to his name except ghosts.”_

Jesse almost laughed. It was the same old song and dance that he’d heard every single day when he was with Deadlock. That he was garbage, that he would never amount to anything - things he knew were wrong. He’d already accomplished so much and he’d only been away from Deadlock for two years. _Wait, where’d Genji go…?_

Somewhere in the transition from dark and bloody to the Santa Fe desert, Jesse lost track of Genji.

“You’re gonna have to try harder if you wanna break me.” Jesse snickered and shook his head. _Almost there..._ “That’s what you do, ain’t it? Fear imagery or some shit like that? Ain’t gonna work on me.”

Jesse learned how to keep functioning while frightened a long time ago, that’s how you survived in Deadlock. Every day was filled with terror, but you were still expected to keep pulling your weight. It was something that had carried on when he first got to Blackwatch. Everything was new and scary, he didn’t know how he was supposed to act, but he _kept going_.

The heat increased to the point that it felt like Jesse was being baked and it felt like sand was being whipped into his eyes. _Seems I hit a nerve, heh._ A quick look around showed that there was less of the room and more illusion visible now, so Jesse stopped moving.

_“You know what happens when someone fucks over Deadlock, they face_ **_justice._ ** _That’s yer future, you ungrateful little shit. You’ll face our justice for turnin’ tail and hidin’ behind the government’s skirt.”_

Despite the heat in the room, a chill ran down Jesse’s spine at the thought of Deadlock’s justice. He rubbed at his left forearm, where his Deadlock tattoo was, and gritted his teeth. Facing Deadlock’s justice was what faced him if he ever went home, that was true. He _hated_ that he couldn’t go home… He snorted out a bitter laugh and shook his head. _Figures that I’d get stopped in my tracks because I’m_ **_mad_ ** _instead of being scared._

“Let go of me!”

The sudden sound of Aubrey’s voice ripped Jesse from his thoughts just in time to see the illusion shattering around him. He whipped his head in the direction of the voice and saw Genji restraining Aubrey with a chokehold. Jesse grinned and darted over to the far-too-complicated device to try and figure out how to stop everything.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t understand.” There was a pleading tone in Aubrey’s voice, he almost sounded frightened. “You don’t understand what you’re trying to do, you’re damning us all!”

“Ugh, would you shut up?” Genji growled out the words.

Jesse held his hands over the device as he took in all the little bits and bobs. He couldn’t help but agree with Genji - Aubrey really should shut up. He whirled around and glared. “Alright. When did all the flare-ups and all that bullshit start, huh?”

“There’s always been natural disasters…” Aubrey shot Jesse a look that made him feel like he’d asked something _very_ stupid.

And yes, Aubrey was right in that there had always been natural disasters. But to Jesse’s knowledge, he couldn’t remember magical flare-ups happening before all this started. Jesse was certain that he’d remember something like magical flare-ups, they were weird as hell and he had a good memory for weird things.

“Bless your heart, bet they kept you upstairs.” Jesse rolled his eyes. “Of fuckin’ course there’s always been natural disasters. I’m talkin’ about _magical flare ups_ , shit for brains.”

“Well...the Omnic Crisis…”

Jesse punched the wall to interrupt Aubrey before he really got going. “No...no you don’t. I was alive when the Omnic Crisis happened. That wasn’t the same as this bullshit. The Omnics in the crisis knew exactly what they was doin’. The ones in all the recent shit? They’re not actin’ on their own will. Now tell me, when did all this nonsense start happenin’?”

Silence.

“I’m guessin’ that your silence means that magic goin’ haywire started _after_ you went off your rocker and decided to split the worlds apart.” Jesse turned back to the device. _Why does this thing have to be so complicated? I don’t know how to reverse all this…_

“Cowards, both of you are cowards!” Aubrey spit out the words like they were venom. “Too afraid--”

“Of course I’m afraid you looney toon!” Jesse barked out the words. “You were gonna kill everyone.”

A sickening laugh filled the room - one that made the small hairs on the back of Jesse’s neck stand on end. “Kill everyone, you don’t know that for sure. Sacrifices have to be made, Blackwatch. If you want to advance, sacrifices must be made. Do you have any idea how hard we worked to do this? The worlds resist being separated...every little bit of progress was nearly undone by the time we found another method of separation…”

_They resist being separated…?_ To Jesse that really cemented the fact that they weren’t supposed to be separated at all. Or that something _really bad_ would happen if they _were_ separated. _But if the worlds drift back together when a method is destroyed…_

Jesse knew what he had to do.

“Hey Genji - when I give the sign, I want you to transform and get the hell away from here, got it?” At the very least, Jesse had to make sure Genji got out of here safe. Hanzo would be pissed if Jesse let his little brother get hurt. And he’d be in big trouble with Gabe. _Well, that depends on what happens when I destroy the device. I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to be violent._

“...w...what? What about you…?” Genji sounded so young for a minute, even though there was still a tiny bit of strain in his voice from holding Aubrey in place.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me. So on my mark, you transform and get outta here. Got it?”

“Yeah, understood.”

Jesse chuckled to himself as he pulled out Peacekeeper again and reloaded. It was weird, he was terrified, but utterly calm. He knew what he had to do, he was almost at peace. It almost felt like atonement for everything he’d done while he ran with Deadlock, a way to right all those wrongs. His actions would save many. And most importantly (to him), his actions gave Hanzo a chance of coming back. That made it worth the danger to Jesse.

“Get ready, Genji.” He exhaled and focused, the world greying around him once more, the sound of Aubrey begging in the background fading to a dull hum. _Focus on the weak point of the device…_ Soon enough it was glowing bright red. Now or never. “Draw!”

Jesse fanned the hammer of Peacekeeper, each bullet hitting the device in slow motion. For a moment, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. But a rippling shockwave ran through the room followed by heat, pressure, and pain. Jesse was thrown back from the force of the explosion and he looked away reflexively. Pain seared through his left arm, blinding and hot, and so very intense. He saw a bright green tail darting away from everything and a grin passed over his face. _Good...Genji got away…_

He smacked into a wall with a grunt, debris raining down around him. Jesse’s eyes were barely open, but he swore he could see the sky above him instead of a ceiling. It was so blue, blue like Hanzo’s dragon form, like the magic that flowed off of him. He reached toward it with a slight smile on his face.

_Come home, Hanzo…_


	9. Chapter 9

When Hanzo woke, he was in nothingness. His dragons were spiraling around him protectively, in worry. He searched his memory for what happened and could remember being kidnapped, could remember Jesse and Genji finding him to rescue him, and that he started fading away. His heart wrenched as Jesse and Genji’s panicked faces floated into his mind. _I’m sorry…_

He was surrounded by darkness, just an infinite void of darkness. Just...nothingness in all directions…

_Am I dead…?_

Panic clenched in his chest and Hanzo found it difficult to catch his breath. This couldn’t be happening, he couldn’t be dead! Not when he finally figured out what was going on, not when he could help, not when he just found someone he lo---

_“Young master! You are alive, not dead.”_

Hanzo felt the muscles in his shoulders relax as Soba rubbed against them. But it didn’t make sense, if he was still alive, why was he in a place like this…? There wasn’t anything here…

_“You are between worlds, I’m sorry, young master.”_

Udon whirled around his waist, his tail brushing against him. But the words sank in a moment later.

Between worlds.

Hanzo both understood what that meant and had no idea what that meant. It just didn’t seem like something that was possible, to be between worlds. It felt more like he was in purgatory than anything else. It was hard to not feel that way...everything around him was bleak and hopeless. Just...endless expanses of black.

_“Focus...you can see much if you focus.”_

Hanzo rolled his eyes, but did as his dragons instructed him. He focused and the darkness before him rippled away to reveal a looking glass of sorts. He could see what was happening on earth, he could see _Jesse_ . And Genji. Both of them being torn a new one by Gabe. _No...no I don’t want Genji to be punished by the elders, no...please…_

“Wait...they’re still trying to find me…?” Hanzo whispered. _But if they do that they’re going against orders, they’re going to get in so much trouble…_

The looking glass clouded over and Hanzo was once again on his own. Well, him and his dragons...but they were so integrated with him that he just considered Soba and Udon part of himself no matter what.

“I want to help them…” Hanzo whispered as he stared at where the image of Genji and Jesse had been not even seconds before. But there wasn’t any way for him to help when he was stuck in this hellhole…

_I’ve never felt so useless before…_

Hanzo fell into a rhythm. He’d drift aimlessly for god knows how long ( _“time is different between worlds, young master”_ ), the darkness would pull back enough to show a scene with Genji and Jesse, and then he’d go back to his pseudo-solitary existence. Sometimes they’d just be sleeping in the back of a truck or some other vehicle, sometimes they’d be actively dodging Overwatch agents. No matter what he saw, Hanzo was unable to help them in any way. All those moments did was throw salt into the wound.

_“You must be patient…”_

That’s what his dragons kept telling him. That he had to be patient. That Genji and Jesse were making progress, that they would fix everything. But that didn’t change that _Hanzo_ couldn’t do anything. It didn’t change that time felt like it was dragging on for an eternity, but sometimes felt like it was racing away faster than he could process.

Hanzo was drifting somewhere between sleep and awake when the darkness parted once more. An odd feeling was boiling in his gut, some sort of instinct that isolation had numbed up until this point. It was one that was familiar, one that he knew he felt often when he was on earth…

He was immediately assaulted by the scent of blood, potent and coppery. It was stifling and disoriented Hanzo. That scent combined with the claustrophobic darkness made his heart race and anxiety flush through his body. It was enough for his vision to cloud, for his hearing to fuzz out. _No...no...I need to focus…_ Hanzo exhaled on a five count and tried to shake the fear off. Now wasn’t the time.

Everything came back into focus and Hanzo was greeted to the sight of Jesse and Genji in a stand out with Aubrey. It was hard to tell where they were, some sort of office building maybe - somewhere that was only _kind of_ suited for illicit activities. Probably a building that they stole from some other group. Genji was doubled over and whimpering with his hands clutching onto his hair, but Jesse was still able to move.

For a few seconds, it looked like everything was moving at hyper speed before slowing back to normal. Everything was different - hot and stifling, a desert with red sands. Jesse’s words were echoing, _“Don’t worry ‘bout me. So on my mark, you transform and get outta here. Got it?”_ Hanzo frowned - that sounded like Jesse was planning on doing something stupid. While he was glad that Jesse was making sure Genji had a chance to get out safely he didn’t want Jesse to do something foolish...he wanted them both to get out of this safely.

There was so much sound, too much, it was overwhelming. Aubrey’s begging and pleading was a constant drone in the background punctuated by the sounds of Jesse reloading his six shooter. _“Get ready, Genji.”_ Another few seconds dragged on for an infinite amount of time and they were agony. Too much sound, too much everything. _“Draw!”_

Six shots rang out.

All the energy in the device burst out in an explosion. It was spectacular, beautiful, more stunning than anything Hanzo had seen in his life. The colors were brilliant, spanning the entirety of the rainbow, swirling out of the darkness that surrounded Hanzo. Genji instantly shifted and was out before anything could harm him. Jesse was blown back by the explosion, those beautiful colors pulverizing his left arm instantly.

“No!” Hanzo’s voice came out as a panicked yelp more than anything else. He reached toward the scene, but couldn’t grab onto anything tangible. _He got hurt because of me…_

Jesse was reaching up to the sky with a serene smile on his face and for a moment Hanzo thought he could hear words, even though Jesse wasn’t speaking. _Come home, Hanzo…_

_But I don’t know how to get back…_

_“Young master...it is time…”_

That was the only warning Hanzo got. It felt like every fiber of his being was being pulled in different directions all at once, fragmenting completely but still feeling like he was being shoved through a tube. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out, just a soundless, helpless roar.

Hanzo slammed onto the ground with a sharp gasp with his eyes open as wide as they went and his hand reaching up to the sky. Familiar dark blue blanketed the sky, dotted with brilliant specks of fire. The branches of sakura trees crisscrossed above his eyes, the lipstick pink petals standing out stark against the night. He inhaled sharply and felt tears burning at the corners of his eyes. _I’m home…_

 

* * *

  
  


“You can’t do this!” Hanzo’s voice cracked as he slammed his fist against the wall. “I’m not a child, you can’t just lock me up and expect me to heel like a dog!”

It hadn’t taken very long for the Shimada clan to find Hanzo upon him reappearing in this reality. After giving him a thorough injury check, they had proceeded to lock him up like an animal. _For his safety_. He was at least allowed the dignity of most of the manor, though he was accompanied at all times.

Hanzo hated it.

No one would tell him what all happened. No one would tell him where Genji was. No one would tell him if Jesse was okay. No one would tell him if the alliance with Blackwatch was done. No one would tell him _anything._ He was completely out of the loop. He hadn’t even been permitted to see his father.

Hanzo _hated_ it.

“This is for your own good, young master.” One of the elders, Maeda, sighed in exasperation. “We are merely trying to keep you safe.”

“Bullshit!” Hanzo snarled. “Just tell me what’s going on. You’ve trusted me to help out with daily tasks in the clan for years, but now you can’t tell me what’s going on? Just...I want to know…”

_I want to know if my brother is okay…_

_I want to know if Jesse is okay…_

“Apologies, young master. Everything is on a need to know basis. When we decide you need to know, we will let you know.” Maeda turned and walked away without another word.

Hanzo could only stare for a few moments. It was almost impossible to believe that they were just leaving him out of the loop. After all he’d done to stay on the elders’ good side, after every little thing he’d given up on, after all the things he’d denied himself...they just left him in the dark. _I should have seen this coming…_ He knew that he should have, but at the same time...there was part of Hanzo that just _hoped_ his loyalty and effort over the years actually meant something to the elders.

But no…

They were just making him miserable for their own gain.

Hanzo stared out his window at the gently swaying sakura branches as he clenched his jaw tightly. He hated this, he wasn’t a child. He didn’t deserve to be confined for no reason other than having the misfortune of being kidnapped and then literally vanishing.

_No...I’m not going to stay here and do nothing._

He played good boy for the afternoon, doing exactly as he was told right down to the letter. He sat through all the little tasks the elders wanted him doing, he ate the food brought to him, he bided his time.

Night fell.

Hanzo changed out of the plain kimono he’d been given into simple street clothes. He pulled out his phone and checked all his secret accounts - ones he’d set in place in case of emergencies or various other scenarios he and Genji thought up. He had a decent amount of funds, he had a burner cell with all the important phone numbers in it. If he traveled light he could get a good distance away before the elders managed to catch up. If Jesse and Genji managed to evade Overwatch all those times while trying to stop everything, then Hanzo could evade the elders.

The only facet of busting out that bothered Hanzo was the fact that he’d be upsetting his father. _I can find a way to contact him and apologize…_ He chewed on his lower lip and snorted. _After I find Genji and Jesse and figure out what all happened, then I’ll talk to my father._

He packed very little, just the absolute necessary, just like he’d been taught over the years. It was almost like the elders wanted him to do this. Why else would they emphasize his training so much? Hanzo snorted and tried to not laugh - who trained ninjas and expected said ninjas to stay put? Not happening. Hanzo figured they were likely counting on the obedience that had been drilled into them since they were little, continued compliance.

That was enough of that.

Hanzo stared out at the night sky and smiled a little. A new moon. That made it even easier for him to escape. Good. He exhaled and felt the muscles in his shoulders relax. There was no point in lingering, it would only make him being captured more likely. The thought of transforming and fleeing crossed through his mind - but he wanted to have supplies with him. He didn’t want to chance his bag not transforming with him. It was always a dice roll with accessories.

He dropped his regular cell phone onto his bed after typing up a short note to his father. As much as Hanzo wanted to trust his family to not have put a tracking device into his phone, he knew that they would do something like that. It was just safer to ditch this one and take the burner. While he wanted to leave without so much as a word...he owed it to his father. His father needed to know that he hadn’t been kidnapped again. He needed to know that this was of his own volition. Hanzo owed him that much.

Hanzo shouldered his small bag and climbed out the window and onto the roof. People always looked for trails on the ground, so Hanzo wouldn’t leave one for them to find. Any guards he ran into were knocked unconscious without hesitation and a soft apology - they were family after all. He didn’t want to hurt them. Getting out of Hanamura was easier than Hanzo thought it would be. He’d run into minimal guards, the town was quiet, everything was going smoothly. His plan was to stick on foot until he hit the train station.

“Hanzo.”

He stopped in his tracks, his lungs almost felt paralyzed. Hanzo closed his eyes and cursed internally - of all the people he expected to chase after him, he hadn’t anticipated _his father_ being one of them. He didn’t plan for that and that simple fact threw wrench in his entire mental process.

Hanzo straightened up and turned around to face his father. At the very least, he would face his father with his head held high and his pride intact. But what surprised him is that he and his father were the same height now, that he could look straight into his eyes. Hanzo could see the age in his father’s face now; the lines from worry and stress, the scars from years of being a yakuza boss, as well as the flecks of grey peppering his hair. He looked old and worn and so very, very tired. But his eyes were the same as Hanzo’s. The exact same ones that Hanzo saw in the mirror every day. He’d always been told that he looked like his father, but up until this moment he had never been able to see the resemblance.

“Father…” Hanzo clenched his jaw and tried to hold eye contact, only to look away. _I hate that I’m so weak..._ “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

His father held his hand up. “I just want to understand your reasoning, my son. It was not my decision to cage a dragon.”

Hanzo blinked and felt his mouth hang slightly agape. Part of him thought that his father would just drag him back to the manor and put him back in his bedroom like a naughty child. But his father wanted to hear him out…

He wanted to understand.

“I need to know what happened to Genji and Jesse.” Hanzo whispered, his voice tremulous and far weaker than usual. “I need to know if they’re okay.”

Hanzo watched that explosion, he needed to know what happened, he needed to know that they were okay. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if they were hurt or worse…

He watched the stoic mask that his father wore every single day fall away, crumble to pieces. Emotions played across his face - his brows were pinched together from worry, his eyes soft and considerate, his mouth turned down into a slight frown. Hanzo wasn’t sure what that meant in this case, if it meant that his father was going to let him leave without issue or if Hanzo was going to have to make a break for it.

“Contacting Blackwatch would accomplish the same thing.”

Hanzo chewed on his lower lip and shook his head. “No. It will not. One does not contact Blackwatch, they’re a covert organization. I need to see that they are okay.” He paused and clenched his hands into fists. “Don’t you want to know what happened to Genji?”

It was a low blow, Hanzo knew it. He knew his father favored Genji. He always had, that’s how life had been since childhood.It was something that Hanzo resented when he was younger, but came to accept it. He knew his father had to be worried sick…

“I want to know, yes, but I want to keep _you_ safe too.” He placed his hand on Hanzo’s shoulder. “But I know that you’ve made up your mind...and I know there is no changing your mind once it's made.”

Hanzo lifted his head, tentative. Almost unsure. “That’s right. There’s no changing my mind.” Even if his posture was apprehensive, his words were resolute. Even if he didn’t have his father’s blessing, he was going to find out what was going on.

“Then you have my permission, Hanzo.”

_Wait...is it really that simple…?_ As much as everyone told him that everything in life was handed to him on a silver spoon or something like that, Hanzo _did_ work hard for his achievements. Having something given to him so easily was just...confusing. “Really?”

The smile that came to his father’s face was soft, indulgent. One that was more reminiscent of moments from his childhood than a father addressing his grown son. “Your mother never wanted the elders to have this much control over you. She wanted you and Genji to have the chance to be children, to be _happy_. Go.”

Hanzo wasn’t sure if this was a complete reprieve of his duties, a permanent happiness, but he’d take it. “...thank you, father.” He took his father’s hand in a firm handshake. “I will keep you informed.”

And that was it. There would be no goodbyes, because this wasn’t goodbye. Hanzo intended to return at some point, he just didn’t know when that was. He turned from his father and ran into the night, silent and agile. He didn’t want to dawdle, even with his father’s permission he knew that the elders were going to send people after him. He wanted to get a good amount of distance between them and him.

_I’m coming, I’ll find out what happened…_

 

* * *

  
  


Getting into America wasn’t near as difficult as Hanzo thought it would be. He even traveled legit - though he didn’t use his actual passport. Which is what landed him in the position he was in. He probably should have found some convoluted method of getting into America, but he opted for safer travel. He had been running on very few hours of sleep at that point - it wasn’t a good choice on his part. He knew that now. He was _very_ well aware of that now.

After all, good choices didn’t land you in a holding cell while Overwatch was called in. Turns out that someone recognized his tattoo and got all scared that something _bad_ was going to happen.

_Though...this is getting me closer to finding Genji and Jesse…? Maybe…?_

At the very least, it was a start.

Hanzo leaned back in his chair and stared at the handcuffs on his wrists. They were laughable, he would be able to slip them easily, but he was playing nice for the moment. He didn’t want to wind up in _actual_ trouble.

He wasn’t entirely sure how long he’d been in the holding cell, but it was long enough for him to be bored out of his mind and anxious. In most situations, Hanzo was quite good at waiting and being patient, he’d been praised for it often when he was a child. But at this point all he wanted was for things to get moving.

He was tired of waiting. Hanzo figured that floating in that void for god knows how long was enough waiting for a lifetime.

He closed his eyes and let himself start drifting off. He might as well catch up on his sleep if he was going to have to wait. Hanzo was very nearly asleep when the door creaked open.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Shimada. Imagine our surprise when we heard that you were in America.” Whoever was speaking sounded like they started every day for the past decade by gargling gravel. “Especially as the last we heard you literally vanished from this plane of existence.”

Hanzo opened his eyes and was greeted to the sight of two Overwatch agents - both in bright blue long coats. One was a tall, well-built man with a blonde crew cut, the other a dark skinned woman with long, black hair that was hanging loose around her shoulders. There was a tattoo under her left eye - a symbol. Hanzo recognized it as the Eye of Horus. Despite the serious expressions on their faces, their eyes were dancing in something akin to amusement.

“Please do not mind Commander Morrison, he finds himself funny.” The woman had a strong accent and a soft, almost maternal tone. She leaned in, conspiratorial. “He is mistaken.”

While Hanzo didn’t really appreciate that she was treating him like he was younger than he actually was, he was more inclined to like her than he was Commander Morrison. At the very least she was being considerate of the fact that he hadn’t exactly _wanted_ to disappear from this plane of existence and that, perhaps, said vanishing act was _possibly_ a little traumatic.

“So...care to explain why we’ve been called in to deal with a Shimada heir who is supposedly dead?” Morrison crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the wall of the cell.

“Hello Commander Morrison, it is nice to meet you.” Hanzo put on his best polite voice and a calm smile. But his eyes were hard. “How very kind of you to introduce yourselves to me. I’m Shimada Hanzo.”

Maybe he was playing with fire, but Hanzo was at the end of his rope in terms of patience. They both knew who he was, he wanted to know who they were.

The two exchanged a look before laughing. “A fair point, young Shimada. My name is Ana Amari. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. This is my associate, Jack Morrison. He’s the strike commander of Overwatch.”

Hanzo felt his heart rate creep up a little. _Why would the strike commander be sent to deal with me…?_ He knew that a wayward yakuza member was cause for concern, but was it cause for _that much_ concern? He supposed the vanishing thing played in as well...but…

“So, now will you answer my question?” Jack deadpanned.

Hanzo rolled his eyes and lifted his handcuffed wrists just enough that his tattoo was visible. “Someone recognized my tattoo and got it in their head that I was going to ‘do something.’” He framed the words ‘do something’ finger quotes.

Jack and Ana exchanged another look, this one somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

“I believe what Jack is getting at is how you returned to our realm.” Ana moved away from the wall to sit down at the table across from Hanzo.

_Yeah, I definitely like her more than him._ “I don’t know. Well. I have theories, but I don’t know _exactly_ how.” Hanzo frowned and looked away from them both. “I answered a question of yours, now you answer one of mine. Where is my brother?”

Silence.

“And what makes you think you’re entitled to answers?” Jack’s voice was gruff. “We’re the ones asking the ques---”

“Jack, don’t be rude. This young man has been through an ordeal. And he is entitled to his questions.” Ana’s voice was sharp - a mother chiding a misbehaving child. To Hanzo’s surprise, Jack backed down. “We know where your brother is, he is safe.”

Hanzo felt relief spread through his body. Genji was safe. At the very least he would be able report good news to his father. But despite the good news, his heart was still tight and panic was still at the edge of his mind.

“And what about---”

“No, it’s our turn now.” Jack scowled in a way that suggested he’d just been force fed manure. “Explain your theories.”

_Yeah, I_ **_really_ ** _don’t like him._ Hanzo snorted and gave an exaggerated sigh. “When I vanished from this world, I went to a place that was...between…? worlds.” He knew he sounded crazy and when it looked like Jack was going to try and say something along those lines Hanzo held a finger up to silence him. “Every once and awhile I could see what was happening...I...saw Jesse and Genji destroy what Niflheim was using to cause everything. It exploded...and I think the explosion brought me back to earth.”

Silence.

_They’re staring at me like I grew a second head._ Hanzo was getting ready to run should they decide to commit him or something - it wasn’t going to be an easy escape, but he was certain he could do it.

“I don’t find this funny, Shimada.” Jack grumbled. “Stop jerking us around!”

Hanzo knew he should be thinking of things like ‘diplomatic relations’ and ‘setting a good example’ and ‘future leader of the Shimada clan’ but he was just too damn tired to deal with any of this bullshit. “If you are honestly telling me that what I just said is too unbelievable for the _strike commander of Overwatch_ to believe, then I’m astounded. We live in a world with magic but you can’t believe that there is the possibility of something between worlds?” He should stop at that, he knew he should. He exhaled roughly and then his breath hitched. “That’s where I lose you? Seriously?” His voice cracked in a way that it hadn’t since he was thirteen years old and in puberty.

Again, silence.

But this time followed by Ana speaking in something that sounded like Arabic. Hanzo didn’t know what she was saying, but he could tell that _Jack_ understood her. Unlike Jack, she looked like she was at least willing to believe him - he was grateful for that. Jack still looked like he was smelling shit.

“Your story corroborates the story we have been told.” Ana smiled in a way that was actually quite reassuring. “Forgive Jack, it has been a trying time for us as well.” She paused before getting to her feet. “Do come with us, we will take you to an Overwatch facility to fully be briefed.”

“Is Jesse---”

Ana held her hand up. “There will be no more discussion until then.”

Her tone left no room for argument, Hanzo knew that because his _father_ tended to use that tone. As much as he wanted to ask about Jesse, he wasn’t going to argue with _that tone_. He knew better. Plus, he was more amused that Jack Morrison, the strike commander of Overwatch, was listening to her on this. Hanzo said a quiet thank you when he was handing his small bag of belongings and was pleased to see his cell phone in there as well.

He was less pleased that the kept the handcuffs on him.

Hanzo was escorted - privately, thankfully - to a transport. A high speed one, he was told. Again, he was grateful. Especially when uncomfortable silence settled in. It was awkward enough that he swore said awkwardness became a tangible entity. Neither Jack or Ana would talk, they just sat there doing nothing. And Hanzo couldn’t maneuver his hands well enough to get at his cell phone so he couldn’t play mobile games. It was ever too awkward for him to _sleep_.

Thankfully, it only took an hour to get to the base.

Much to Hanzo’s chagrin, the handcuffs remained on. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he didn’t feel like questioning at this point. He was about to get answers, he could endure the embarrassment of handcuffs for a bit longer.

The base was neat and tidy, exactly what someone would expect of Overwatch. And it was busy as can be. There were all sorts of people bustling through the hallways and each and every one of them was throwing salutes at both Jack and Ana. And ignoring Hanzo. Well, at least until they noticed his tattoo. Then their eyes bugged out of their head and they started trying to hide that they were visibly scared of him. _Guess the clan’s reputation precedes itself._

“This way, Mr. Shimada.” Ana had a smile on her face that almost seemed devious, though Hanzo wasn’t entirely sure why.

“...and what exactly is this way?” Hanzo tried to not sound irritated, but he was getting a little frustrated. And he was so tired.

“All will be revealed soon.” Jack’s words were foreboding, but there was actually a smile on his face.

_Ah look, the stone broke. He_ **_can_ ** _smile._

Finally, he was led into a meeting room of some sort. Well-lit, pleasant. Just a boring, regular meeting room. _Guess even big organizations like Overwatch need to have places for boring briefings._

A noise caught his attention so Hanzo looked over to the right and felt his heart leap into his throat. Sitting at the table was his younger brother, dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie emblazoned with the Blackwatch emblem, with Jesse seated right next to him. Both were a bit bruised up, scraped, worse for the wear, but were laughing like old friends.

Hanzo slipped the handcuffs in an instant and let them clatter to the ground. He could hear Ana and Jack saying things - probably yelling at him - but he ignored them and rushed over to Genji. Only once Jack and Ana spoke did Genji and Jesse notice that there were other people in the room.

_They’re really okay_

Everything was moving in slow motion, all sound was muffled, distorted, like Hanzo was underwater. He knew he was saying words, but he wasn’t sure what he was saying and he supposed it didn’t really matter. He laughed when Genji vaulted over the table and pulled him into a fierce hug. That physical contact pulled Hanzo back into the here and now and only then did he realize that he was crying. That Genji was crying as well. That Genji was holding onto him so tightly that it _hurt_. That Jack and Ana were talking so much that he couldn’t actually make out the words, that Jesse was speaking as well.

But his focus was on his brother for the moment. He needed to be _certain_ that he was okay.

“Jesse said he felt you come back! I believed him, but I didn’t know how that could work...I...” The cheerful tone was marred by tears and only broke once Genji let out a hiccuping sob. “Just...don’t scare me like that again, anija…”

“You’re...you’re one to talk.” Hanzo could feel his jaw twitching from trying to hold himself together, no, from _failing_ to hold himself together. “I leave for a few days and you nearly get blown up in a building? Idiot! Don’t...don’t you dare do something like that again!”

Hanzo pulled back and put his hands on his brother’s shoulders and gave him a watery smile. It had been a long time since he’d seen Genji look so at ease and if he wasn’t crying, Hanzo would say that his brother looked _happy_. Far happier than he did back in Hanamura.

“You’re really okay, Han?” Genji’s voice was quiet, so young sounding.

“I’m really okay.” Hanzo nodded and then pulled back.

Hanzo wiped at his face and exhaled slowly. _They’re both okay, there’s no reason to be falling apart like this…_ But even knowing that, his heart was still racing. He was still anxious for some reason…

“Hey sweetheart…”

That voice sent his heart into overdrive, made the little composure he’d managed to put together shatter into billions of pieces. Hanzo turned and saw Jesse just standing there like the end of the world hadn’t almost happened, a little smile on his face. Like everything was alright. Hanzo’s eyes drifted to Jesse’s left arm, rather, the lack of left arm. His shirtsleeve was knotted, presumably to keep the excess sleeve out of the way. The mere sight of it knocked the wind out of Hanzo’s lungs. The tears that had only just stopped were starting back up again. _My fault…_

“Oh darlin’, please don’t cry, I’m okay, I promise.” Jesse took a few steps closer and cupped Hanzo’s cheek gently. His hand was warm, soft - exactly what Hanzo remembered. But there was only _one_ hand now and that was his fault… “They’re makin’ me a prosthetic one, I saw Angie’s designs, it’s real sweet--”

Hanzo wanted to yell at him, to be indignant that Jesse threw himself into danger on Hanzo’s behalf. That he got maimed in the process, that everything was all his fault, but all he could do was fall against Jesse’s chest and cry. He gripped onto Jesse like he was going to disappear; his hands held tight onto the fabric of Jesse’s shirt, so tightly that the fabric was threatening to rip.

“I’ve gotcha, honeybee, I’ve got you.” Jesse whispered.

“You saved me.” Hanzo managed the words, though he wasn’t entirely sure how. He was certain he was crying too much…

“‘course I did, wasn’t anything at all, sweet pea.”

Hanzo finally pulled away from the hug and stared up at Jesse in disbelief. The words were actually enough to stop his tears. “Jesse, you saved the entire fucking world.”

Jesse shrugged. “Just did what needed to be done! Ain’t no big deal.”

Hanzo wiped at his face and looked over at Genji and then Jack and Ana. All three of them were laughing, though at least Jack looked to be exasperated with the whole situation. “...has he been like this the whole time?”

Genji burst into laughter and nodded. “He’s absolutely refused to admit that he did something awesome! Even Gabe was telling him to ‘pull his head out of his ass and stop being so damn humble.’”

Hanzo rubbed at his face and shook his head. After everything that happened, he was starting to laugh at how ridiculous Jesse was being. The laughs started slow, so very soft, barely even a chuckle, before crescendoing into a full blown belly laugh. He held around his middle and nearly doubled over.

“You are absolutely ridiculous, cowboy!” Hanzo wheezed before being overcome with giggles again.

“Y’all suck.” Jesse crossed his arms over his chest and pouted like a put out child. “Here I am tryin’ to be modest…”

The sound of a throat being cleared made Hanzo jump. He looked away from Jesse with his lips tight together to try and keep from laughing.

“...now that you’ve had your touching reunion, can we _please_ get to the debriefing?” Jack sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t slept since Shimada disappeared and my five hour energy wore off.”

There was a moment of silence that was only interrupted by Hanzo desperately trying to hold in laughter.

“Nope. I’ve got one more thing to handle, Jack-o.” Jesse grinned and tipped his hat.

Hanzo very nearly snorted from his laughter when Jack motioned for Jesse to carry on. The sound trailed into a squeak when Jesse hooked his arm around Hanzo’s waist and pulled him close. Jesse leaned in close and whispered the words _‘may I’_ against Hanzo’s ear, he could only nod in response. Barely a second passed and Hanzo gasped when Jesse’s lips were pressed against his, even though he knew that it was going to happen. He melted into Jesse’s touch, his arms wrapping around Jesse’s waist. His eyes fluttered shut and he sighed happily into the kiss. _Perfect…_

This time it was Ana who cleared her throat. “Jesse, do remember that you’re in polite company.”

Hanzo broke the kiss and had the good grace to look a little sheepish.

“Now...can we get to the briefing?” Jack looked completely done with the day. “...and why the hell couldn’t you just wait until we took the cuffs off of you, Shimada?”

Hanzo was about to say something, but Genji beat him to it. “...it didn’t work when you did it to me, why did you expect my older brother to behave when he’s the one who taught me how to bust out of handcuffs?”

“Because I had a bet riding on it!” Jack barked. “I owe Gabe $100.”

Hanzo couldn’t remember the last time he laughed as hard as he was in this moment. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so happy, but he knew that he was going to hold onto it as long as he could.

_I’m home now…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the epilogue...

It was nearly a year after the worlds were nearly separated. It was a little surreal for Jesse - he was only now getting back to active duty after losing a good portion of his left arm. Well, and to get over the punishments that Gabe threw at him for going AWOL twice. They weren’t as harsh as they should’ve been because of the whole ‘saving the world’ thing, Jesse was well aware of that, but they had been plenty unpleasant and he had no desire to repeat that experience ever again.

“Oy! McCree! Fifteen minutes until we’re shipping out.” Gabe called over his shoulder. “Be sure to grab Shimada x2 so they aren’t late.”

Jesse shot Gabe a thumbs up with his mechanical left hand as he adjusted his chestplate while jogging down the hallway. _Of course I forget my goddamn hat on the day we’re shipping out on Hanzo and Genji’s first official Blackwatch mission. Fucking perfect._ His mind reminded him that this was his first mission after getting his prosthetic arm - getting used to it had taken longer than Jesse thought it would, even if had been warned about the adjustment period. He slid to a stop outside the quarters he shared with Hanzo and moved to punch in the entrance code right as the door was opening.

Jesse wasn’t entirely sure how Hanzo managed to take his breath away each and every time he saw him, but he did. Especially now that Hanzo was starting to express himself more. He’d gotten the bridge of his nose pierced, gotten an undercut, he’d even gotten a Blackwatch tattoo on his right bicep. Seeing Hanzo let himself break away from the mold his clan wanted him to fit was just...wonderful. And in Hanzo’s hands was Jesse’s hat, cradled like it was something precious and breakable.

“Hey cowboy, you forget something?” Hanzo smiled so warm and beautiful that Jesse could scarcely take a breath.

_He’s so beautiful…_

“Well, I can’t be forgettin’ my babydoll, now can I…” Jesse reached out and cupped Hanzo’s cheek. His love leaned into the touch, his eyes closing. He looked serene and so very beautiful.

“I suppose you cannot. Shall we be going then?”

And there he was forgetting to breathe again. Jesse couldn’t help but be a little amused by that, that was just life around Hanzo. He accepted that he was just going to be breathless from time to time.

Jesse plucked the hat out of Hanzo’s hands and set it on his head with a grin. He took Hanzo’s hand and led him back out into the hall. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Hanzo’s cheek. “Yeah, let’s get goin’ before Gabe gets his panties all twisted. C’mon darlin’~”

He was a little nervous about Hanzo going out in the field, but that was just general anxiety about someone he cared about going on a mission. Jesse knew that Hanzo was more than capable of defending himself and then some. He just wanted him safe…

Plus there was the whole ‘if either Shimada boy is hurt, Sojiro Shimada will kill me’ thing. Sojiro was letting his sons be in Blackwatch on good faith - an alliance, the start of something new. The wrath of Sojiro Shimada was enough to make any man nervous, even more when you were dating one of the sons.

“Ack, anija, could you keep your PDA to PG levels?” Genji blanched as he walked past, his pierced tongue hanging out of his mouth in an expression that really showed how young he was. He was already clad in mission gear. “You two make my teeth rot!”

Jesse snorted back a laugh and covered his mouth with his prosthetic hand. “Aw c’mon, we’re just holding hands. Nothing wrong with that, you puritan.”

It was good to see Genji blooming into himself as well - he was still a little shit (Jesse meant that in the most loving way possible), but his mischief was less out of rebellion and more for the sake of fun. He’d given himself an undercut with fade - he’d even gotten someone to shave designs into the back. The longer portion was a little wavy and still neon green. Jack had given up on trying to police his hair color entirely, much to Genji’s delight.

“Intent, cowboy. The intent behind the hand holding is dirty.” Genji deadpanned as they walked along.

“My intent is hand holding!” Jesse let out an indignant squawk. “What the hell is dirty about hand holding??”

“You make it dirty somehow!” Genji poked his tongue out again. “It’s not my fault you--”

“Sparrow, you’re being ridiculous.” Hanzo snorted while rolling his eyes. “Focus on the mission.”

Most would think Hanzo was still so serious and boring, but Jesse knew better. He could hear the stifled laughter in his voice, could see the smile that he was hiding behind his hand. Knowing that Hanzo was letting his guard down was enough to warm his heart entirely.

“You’re no fun, anija.” Genji pouted, but he actually relented on the trolling.

Jesse squeezed Hanzo’s hand as they rounded the corner into the hangar. Gabe was waiting immediately before them with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t look particularly pleased, but he could deal. Jesse knew they weren’t late. They were even a little early! Just because Gabe wanted to get the show on the road _really_ early didn’t mean he could get grumpy at them for being a _little_ early.

“You’re late.” Gabe grunted out while motioning for them to get on the transport.

“No we ain’t.” Jesse rolled his eyes as he trotted up to the transport. “Shimada x2, just as requested, sir. We’re all ready to go.”

Gabe shot him a look that would make most men quiver in fear, Jesse merely grinned in response. A moment later, Gabe was laughing and shaking his head. “I want to be leavin’ in about three minutes, so get settled. I’ll brief everyone while we’re in the air.”

Genji gave Gabe a mock salute before settling down into one of the seats and strapping in without hesitation. To Jesse’s surprise, it was Hanzo who wandered off to the back of the transport. He frowned slightly and followed after him - usually Hanzo was the one who listened to Gabe on the first order, usually Genji was the one who went off and did his own thing. _I just want to be make sure he’s okay…_ Jesse was surprised that he had to jog to keep up with Hanzo and felt his frown getting a bit more pronounced. This wasn’t how Hanzo usually acted…

“Hey...Hanzo, what’s goin’ on?” Jesse called after him, but didn’t get a response. “Hanny!” He broke into a run and grabbed Hanzo’s shoulder.

The shorter man startled and jumped so badly that he wound up facing Jesse. He visibly relaxed, his shoulders sagging down as the tension melted from his face. “Jess, you scared me. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

Jesse kicked himself internally - he knew better. It was rule number one in Blackwatch: don’t sneak up on someone. You never knew someone’s history or how they would react to something. It was just asking for trouble.

“Sorry babydoll, I was just worried. It’s not like you to rush off like this…” Jesse smoothed his hands against Hanzo’s cheeks. “Everything okay?”

Hanzo nodded, but his expression wasn’t exactly convincing. Nor was his posture, or anything about his demeanor. His hands were stuffed into the pocket of his hoodie and his shoulders crunched in ever so slightly. The nail in the coffin was his expression, though. Hanzo was hiding his feelings, just like he had done back in Hanamura. Jesse bit his lower lip, none of this was really helping his worry.

“Just general nerves.” Hanzo responded in a clipped, even voice. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Honey...you’re allowed to be nervous. Not like Blackwatch work is easy or completely safe.” Jesse rubbed the pad of his thumb against Hanzo’s cheek. “So what’s really goin’ on?”

Hanzo snorted, a sound that was very nearly a laugh, but it was far too strained. He shook his head. “I’m being ridiculous. I…” He laughed weakly and stared down at the ground. “I feel like I’m going to drag the team down. I don’t want to be a burden.”

It took Jesse a second to process the words. _Hanzo thinks he’ll drag us down…?_ The words just didn’t make sense to him, Hanzo was one of the most skilled fighters that Blackwatch had. Gabe had been praising him left and right, people had been asking him for tips on close quarters combat, he had aced every single test that had been put before him. He was one of the strongest ones in Blackwatch, it was utterly baffling to Jesse that Hanzo would think he would drag the team down…

But his mind drifted to the briefing after everything that happened: Hanzo’s account of how he was kidnapped. How easily everything had been countered, how helpless he’d been.

_I’m such an idiot…_

“Han...you’re not going to drag us down. You’re probably the strongest out of all of us, if anything, you’re gonna save all of our sorry asses…” Jesse leaned in and kissed his forehead.

“If I’m so strong, then why the hell did they…” Hanzo’s voice started sharp, nearly a yell, but tapered down to a weak whisper. “...how did they take me so easily?”

Jesse rested his hands against Hanzo’s shoulders and smiled at him. “Baby...that was then, this is now. You’re amazing, sweetheart. A damn good shot, a kick ass martial artist, and you look gorgeous while you do it. You’re smart as hell too. That’s why I’m crazy about you, Hanzo. I love everything about you, I love _you_.” Jesse pressed their foreheads together. “Plus...if you’re still nervous, I’ll be by your side the whole time and I saved the entire world, remember?”

“D...did you just…” Hanzo sounded a little strangled. “Did you just say you love me?”

_Aw hell, that’s not how I wanted to say I love him!_

Jesse felt his cheeks getting red and he rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish that he’d gone and blurted out his feelings like that. It might not be the way he wanted to admit his feelings, but...that was definitely how he felt.

“Yeah...I did. I love you, Hanzo.” Jesse murmured the words against Hanzo’s forehead.

Silence.

Jesse yelped as Hanzo nearly tackled him. For a second he thought he’d said the wrong thing, but then he felt Hanzo’s lips against his. He smiled into the kiss and hooked his arm around Hanzo’s waist. There was a tiny voice in the back of his mind reminding him that now wasn’t really the time or the place for this kind of thing, but Jesse didn’t really care.

“Oy! What part of ‘leaving in three minutes’ did you two have trouble with?” Gabe barked from the front of the transport.

Jesse pulled back from the kiss, but kept his arms around Hanzo. He couldn’t help the satisfied grin that spread across his face because of the kiss. “Sorry bossman, we’ll get buckled in.” That seemed to appease Gabe for the moment, so Jesse brought his attention back to Hanzo. “Seriously babydoll, don’t be too nervous, I’ll be right by your side the whole time. I’ll keep you safe.”

Hanzo pressed a finger to his lips. “I love you too, Jesse.”

A silly smile spread across Jesse’s face, one that stayed in place even when Hanzo pulled away to go buckle in next to Genji. Jesse stumbled over to his seat and patted the pocket on his shirt that was hidden by his chestplate - a pocket that had a ring in it. _No...not yet. I’m getting ahead of myself…_ He shook his head and glanced over at Hanzo - the man was chattering with Genji in Japanese with a bright smile on his face. Just seeing that smile on Hanzo’s face was enough to make Jesse’s heart sing. He loved him, he really, truly did.

“Hey Hanny…” Jesse leaned over and tapped his knee. “Did you mean it…?”

As confident as Jesse projected, his heart was soft and sometimes he needed reassurance. Or maybe he just wanted to hear Hanzo say it again.

Maybe a bit of both.

When Hanzo smiled it was like the sun breaking through storm clouds. “Yes, I love you.”

He reached over and took a hold of Hanzo’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, their fingers twining together. A perfect fit. “Love you too, babydoll.”

Jesse closed his eyes and smiled as Hanzo went back to talking with Genji, the familiar voices lulling him into a nice, relaxed state.

Once Hanzo and Genji's chatter tapered off, Jesse tapped Hanzo's knee and shot him a sheepish smile. "...can I hear you say it one more time?"

Hanzo rolled his eyes, but the sweet smile on his face told Jesse that he didn't actually mind Jesse's silly requests. "You are ridiculous, cowboy. But yes...you may." He leaned over in his seat before whispering. "I love you."

_God I want to hear him say that every day for the rest of forever._

 


End file.
